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UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 


Receive 
A  c  cessions  No. 


A  MOVE  FOR  BETTER  ROADS. 


ESSAYS 


ROADMAKING  AND   MAINTENANCE 


ROAD  LAWS, 


FOR  WHICH   PRIZES  OR   HONORABLE  MENTION  WERE  AWARDED  THROUGH   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA  BY  A  COMMITTEE  OF 

CITIZENS  OF  PHILADELPHIA, 

t 
WITH  A 

SYNOPSIS  OF  OTHER  CONTRIBUTIONS  AND  A  REVIEW 


BY  THE  SECRETARY, 

LEWIS  M.  HAUPT,  A.M.,  C.E., 

PROFESSOR  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERING,   UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 


INTRODUCTION 


WILLIAM  H.  RHAWN, 

CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE. 


TJHIYBRSITY 


PHILADELPHIA : 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA  PRESS, 

1891. 


A 


COPYRIGHT 

BY 

WILLIAM  H.  RHAWN 
1891. 


INTRODUCTION. 

SINCE  Peter  Cooper  built  the  first  American  locomotive, 
sixty  years  ago,  there  has  been  a  prodigious  growth  and  improve- 
ment in  the  railroads  of  the  country,  until  a  system  of  transporta- 
tion has  been  developed  that  infinitely  transcends  that  of  any 
previous  age  known.  This  marvelous  development  was  only 
possible  through  the  employment  of  the  highest  scientific, 
engineering  and  financial  talent  and  skill. 

During  the  same  period  our  common  roads,  while  necessarily 
increasing  with  the  settlement  of  •  new  territory,  have  exhibited 
no  marked  improvement  in  character,  and  since  the  death  of 
Macadam,  in  1836,  his  mantle  appears  to  have  fallen  on  no  other 
great  prophet  or  apostle  of  better  roads. 

A  belief  that  the  same  character  of  scientific  and  engineer- 
ing talent  and  skill  that  achieved  such  stupendous  results  in  the 
development  of  the  railroad  system  of  the  country  should  be,  as 
far  as  possible,  employed  in  the  improvement  of  its  common 
roads,  induced  the  writer,  in  November,  1889,  to  offer  to  con- 
tribute, through  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  a  prize  for  the 
bqst  paper  upon  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  common 
roads.  The  encouragement  the  project  received  from  Doctor 
William  Pepper,  the  Provost,  and  Professor  Lewis  M.  Haupt,  the 
head  of  the  Civil  Engineering  Department  of  the  University, 
led  to  an  enlargement  of  the  plan  through  the  organization  of 
the  Committee  on  Better  Roads  and  the  opening  of  a  subscrip- 
tion to  a  fund  for  its  contemplated  work.  The  responses  to  the 
solicitations  of  the  committee  for  subscriptions  to  the  fund  were 
extremely  gratifying,  as  showing  the  general  interest  felt  in  the 
matter. 

Prizes  of  $400,  $200  and  $100  were  offered  by  the  Committee 
for  the  best  papers  upon  Road  Making  and  Maintenance,  the 
competition  to  be  open  to  all. 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 

The  Committee  is  indebted  to  the  authors  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  papers  received  by  Doctor  Pepper  and  referred  to  a  Board 
of  Adjudicators  appointed  by  him.  The  Board  was  composed 
of  Alexander  J.  Cassatt,  C.E.,  Chairman  ;  William  Sellers,  M.E,; 
Joseph  M.  Wilson,  C.E.  ;  William  H.  Wahl,  Ph.D.;  Thomas  M. 
Cleeman,  C.  E. ;  Hon.  Wayne  MacVeagh,  and  Professor  Lewis 
M.  Haupt,  C.E.,  Secretary. 

During  the  examination  of  the  papers  and  until  the  awards 
were  made,  their  authors  remained  entirely  unknown  to  the 
Board,  which,  after  long  and  careful  consideration  of  all  the 
papers  received  in  competition,  awarded  the  first  prize,  of  $400, 
to  Henry  Irwin,  B.  A.,  C.E.,  Assistant  Engineer,  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway,  Montreal,  Canada ;  the  second  prize,  of  $200,  to  David 
H.  Bergey,  B.Sc.,  M.D.,  North  Wales,  Pa.  ;-and  the  third  prize,  of 
$100,  to  James  Bradford  Olcott,  South  Manchester,  Conn.;  and 
honorable  mention  without  reference  to  order,  to  Edwin  Satter- 
thwait,  Jenkintown,  Pa. ;  Charles  Punchard,  Philadelphia ;  George 
B.  Fleece,  C.E.,  Memphis,  Tenn. ;  Frank  Cawley,  B.S.,  Swarth- 
more  College.  Pa. ;  and  Francis  Fuller  McKenzie*  C.E.,  German- 
town,  Pa. 

The  papers  for  which  prizes  and  honorable  mention  were 
awarded,  together  with  notes  and  a  carefully  prepared  digest  of 
all  other  papers,  by  Profesor  Haupt,  are  here  presented,  as  a 
contribution  to  the  cause  of  better  roads. 

It  is  intended  to  present  a  draft  or  drafts  of  a  model  legisla- 
tive bill  for  a  road  law  in  an  appendix  or  an  additional  volume. 

The  Committee  here  makes  most  grateful  acknowledgment 
to  the  contributors  of  papers,  the  Board  of  Adjudicators,  to  Doc- 
tor Pepper,  and  to  Professor  Haupt,  for  their  zealous  cooperation. 

WILLIAM  H.  RHAWN, 

Chairman. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 
BY   WILLIAM   H.   RHAWN. 

Reasons  for  offering  a  prize  for  the  best  paper  upon  the  construction 
and  maintenance  of  common  roads ;  encouragement  of  the  pro- 
ject by  Dr.  William  Pepper  and  Professor  Lewis  M.  Haupt,  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  ;  manifestation  of  general  interest  in  the 
matter ;  prizes  offered, iii 

Composition  of  the  Board  of  Adjudicators ;  manner  of  awarding  the 
prizes  ;  names  of  the  successful  competitors  and  of  those  receiving 
honorable  mention  ;  acknowledgment  of  the  committee,  .....  iv 

A  MOVE  FOR  BETTER  ROADS. 

Reasons  for  the  lack  of  appreciation  of  good  common  roads ;  plan  of 
instruction  as  to  what  constitutes  a  perfect  track  adopted  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad;  an  awakening  upon  the  subject  of  better 
roads  proved  by  numerous  recent  articles  on  Roads  and  Road-Mak- 
ing,   .  i 

Attention  called  to  the  subject  by  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania ;  the 
great  importance  of  establishing  the  best  and  most  direct  means  of 
communication;  object  of  the  preparation  of  exhaustive  papers 
upon  road-making,  ...)....  2 

Prizes  for  the  best  drafts  of  a  bill  for  legislative  enactment  to  be  offered ; 

appeal  of  the  committee  for  financial  aid, 3 

Conditions  of  competition  for  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  road 

prizes, 4 

Report  of  the  Adjudicators  to  the  Committee  on  Better  Roads,     ....        6 

Announcement  of  the  award  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  road 

prizes, ' 8 

ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

FIRST   PRIZE   PAPER.     NO.   37. 

By  Henry  Irwin,  B.S.,  C.E. 

Basis  of  remarks;  divisions  of  subject;  subdivisions  of  division  No.  i,  9 

Road  construction  from  an  engineering  point  of  view ;  location,      ...  10 

Grades  ;  variation  in  the  effect  of  gravity  in  the  case  of  a  hill,      ....  12 


vi  CONTENTS. 

Steepest  grade  allowable  on  a  public  road,  and  on  a  very  good  macadam- 
ized road,    13 

A  dead  level  to  be  avoided ;  drainage, 14 

Sub-drains;  tile  pipes;  stone  covering,      15 

Size  of  sub-drains ;  flag  stones  instead  of  tiles ;  distance  apart  of  sub- 
drains,     16 

Clayey  subsoil ;  catch-water  drains ;  berm  at  foot  of  slope ;  uniform  in- 
clination for  drains,  17 

Grades  of  drains;  culverts, 18 

Cross  section  of  road;  transverse  slope, 19 

Explanation  of  terms;  transverse  section;  sidewalks, 20 

Widths  of  roadway, 21 

Width  for  ditches  and  sidewalks  ;  best  side  for  the  sidewalk, 22 

Places  for  storing  macadam ;  slopes  in  cuttings ;  sloping  ground  to  be 

stepped  ;  planks  on  clay  roads, 23 

Sowing  grass  on  slopes  ;  saving  extra  width  ;  dry  stone  walls ;  trees  to 
be  kept  from  drains  ;  trees  on  north  and  east  sides  ;  roadbed  to  be 

rolled, 24 

Weight  of  roller ;  surface  material ;  roadways  in  cities ;  foundation,  .    .  25 

Foundation  of  concrete ;  stone  blocks, 26 

Transverse  slope ;  asphalt,    .'..'.'-• 27 

Foundation ;  limestone  and  asphalt ;  wood  blocks, 28 

Foundation ;  kinds  of  wood  used  ;  wooden  blocks, 29 

Cedar  blocks  ;  repairs  ;  brick  pavements, 30 

• 

Stone  trackways, 31 

Earth  roads  ;  gravel  roads, 32 

Rolling  ;  repairs ;  macadam  roads, 33 

Telford-Macadam  road, *. 35 

Macadam  ;  description  of  stone, 36 

Macadam ;  varieties  of  stone  ;  size  of  stones,     37 

Hand-broken  stone ;  causes  of  resistance, 38 

Spreading  the  macadam, 39 

Rolling;  sidewalks,     40 

Stone  on  margins  of  the  roadway  ;  French  drains  in  villages ;  steep  hills,  41 

Soft  stone  on  hills  ;  depots  for  stone  ;  marking  measured  stone,    ....  42 

Reconstruction  from  an  engineering  point  of  view;  reconstruction,     .    .  43 

Maintenance ;  cleaning, 44 

Repairing  the  surface, 45 

Cleaning  out  drains  and  water  tables, 47 

Cleaning  ditches ;  prices  for  various  works  and  materials,  ...'....  48 


CONTENTS.  vii 

Results  of  Mr.  Rudolphe  Hering's  investigations  as  to  the  cost  per 

square  yard  of  various  materials ;  economic  features, 50 

Approximate  percentages  which  can  be  drawn  on  the  level  over  roads  as . 
compared  with  what  can  be  drawn  on  an  iron  track  ;  variation  in 

the  resistance  due  to  grades, 51 

Advantages  of  good  roads;  losses  caused  by  bad  roads, 52 

General  satisfaction  of  the  land  owners  in  New  Jersey  with  their  new 
roads ;  extract  from  Prof.  J.  W.  Jenks'  article  on  "  Road  Legisla- 
tion for  the  American  State," 53 

Legislative  features, 54 

Duties  of  county  engineer, 56 

Duties  of  assistant  engineers ;   power  to  enter  on  land,  . 57 

Convicts  on  roads, 58 


SECOND    PRIZE    PAPER.      No.  35. 

By  D.  H.  Bergey,  B.S.,  M.D. 
i. — General  Consideration  of  the  Subject. 
Condition  of  the  roads  under  the  present  system ;    deplorable  condition 

of  the  public   roads  in  Pennsylvania;    vast  improvement  in  the 

present  system  of  road  making, 59 

Objections  to  the  present  system ;  conditions  operating  in  retaining  it,  .     60 

Objections  to  toll  roads, 61 

Value  of  different  kinds  of  roadway ;    force  of  traction  with  different 

roads, 62 

Waste  of  time  and  draft  occasioned  by  the  present  system ;    systems  of 

construction  suitable  for  adoption, 63 

Table  of  comparison  of  different  kinds  of  roadway, 64 

Grading  of  public  roads ;  steepest  grade  allowable ;    preparation  of  the 

road  bed  for  the  Telford  or  macadam  system, 65 

2. — Advantages  of  Good  Roads. 

Good  roads  an  advantage  to  town  and  country ;    cost  of  hauling   100 
bushels  of  wheat  one  mile  on  dirt  roads ;    loss  of  time  and  labor 

caused  by  bad  roads, 66 

Benefit  to  the  farmer  from  good  roads  ;  benefit  to  the  traveling  public ; 

extension  of  educational  advantages, 67 

V     Saving  of  money  to  communities, 68 

3. — Construction  of  Public  Roads. 
The  Telford  system;   the  foundation — how  made;   layer  of    broken 

stones, 68 


viii  CONTENTS. 

The  surface  dressing ;  objections  to  the  Telford  system ;  the  macadam 

system, 69 

Construction  of  the  roadbed  in  the  macadam  system ;  the  surface  layer ; 

objections  to  the  system, 70 

Conclusions ;  preference  given  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Cassatt  to  macadam  roads  ; 

cost  of  Telford  and  macadamized  roads, 71 

Opinions  of  Prof.  Shaler,  Mr.  J.  F.  Cope,  and  Mr.  Samuel  R.  Downing,      72 

4. — The  Reconstruction  of  Public  Roads. 

In  the  Telford  system, 72 

In  the  macadam  system, 73 

5. — Maintenance  of  Public  Roads. 

Taxation  for  road  purposes ;   the  labor  system, 73 

Labor  system  in  various  States ;  unfairness  of  the  system, 74 

Money,  taxation  and  labor  combined ;  system  in  Pennsylvania  and  other 

States ;  unprofitableness  of  the  payment  of  taxes  in  labor, 75 

By  money  taxation  alone  ;   expediency  and  efficiency  of  this  method,  .  76 
Raising  funds  for  improving  the  roads  by  borrowing  capital ;  no  extra 

burden  entailed  on  the  tax-payers  by  this  method, 77 

Roads  in  Gwynedd  Township,  Montgomery  Co.,  Pa. ;  State  appropria- 
tion; benefits  derived  therefrom, 78 

Road  officers ;   engineering  courses  in  State  normal  schools ;  township 

supervisors  and  boards  of  control, 79 

County  supervisors  and  boards  of  control, 80 

State  road  engineer  and  assistants ;  administration  of  roads ;  the  classi- 
fication of  roads, 81 

Township  roads,  county  roads  and  State  roads, 82 

Road  machinery, 83 

"N  Laying  out  roads, 84 

N  Repairing  roads ;  Conclusion, 85 


THIRD  PRIZE  PAPER.      NO.  25. 

By  James  Bradford  Olcott. 

The  common  road  problem  before  the  American  people ;  comparison  of 
the  body  politic  with  the  human  organism ;  what  is  supported  by 
the  argument  of  this  paper, 87 

What  is  meant  by  the  best  roads ;   need  of  topographic  surveys  and 

00 

maps, °o 


CONTENTS.  ix 

Effect  of  railroad  education  on  common  road  thoughts  and  practices ; 
where  the  blame  for  the  ruin  of  road  making  lies;  educational 

service  of  road  scrapers, 89 

Growth  of  the  science  of  roads ;  compromise  notions  still  entertained ; 
venal  or  ignorant  city  and  village  practices ;  no  confidence  engend- 
ered by  city  engineering, . 90 

Increase  in  the  value  of  farms  by  good  roads ;    roads  should  be  paid  for 

by  the  State, 91 

Things  not  appreciated  in  road  making;    cost  of  maintenance  lessened 

by  shutting  out  water ;  what  our  many  blunders  involve, 92 

Theory  of  layers  of  stone  in  diminuendo  j  how  true  engineering  science 
is  damaged  in  popular  estimation;  advantages  derived  from  a 

waterproof  road, 93 

Drainage  the  first  law  of  road  making, 94 

Example  of  bad  draining, 95 

Necessity  of  making  stone-road  work  solid  and  impervious  to  water  and 

frost ;  when  the  labor  of  renewal  comes  in, 96 

Necessity  of  re-discovering  the  art  of  chimney-t6p  mortar;  how  the 
material  can  be  consolidated  in  the  road  bed ;  John  Loudon  Mac- 
Adam  and  his  work, 97 

Mac  Adam's  views  of  the  office  of  broken  stone  in  road  making,   ....      98 

Secret  of  MacAadam's  popularity, 99 

Explanation  of  one  of  MacAdam's  sentences, 100 

Absurdity  of  "systems," 101 

What  is  needed  for  loose  stone, 102 

Water  for  wetting  new  work  and  facilitating  packing;  best  vehicles  and 

teams  for  depositing  stone  in  road  work, 103 

Advantages  of  broad  wheels,  and  damage  done  by  narrow  tires ;  where 

the  work  of  making  and  patching  a  road  should  commence  ....    104 
Reason  why  the  road  material  should  be  trampled  and  rolled  solid  as 

soon  as  possible ;    utilization  of  the  power  of  road  teams,  .....    105 
How  the  pressure  of  steam  rollers  may  be  made  more  searching  and 

effective;  value  of  occasional  showers  in  road  making, 106 

Skill  and  dexterity  required  in  controlling  differences  in  road  stone ;  how 

age  is  given  to  a  new  road, 107 

Objections  to  pauper  labor  and  chain  gangs, 108 

How  coal-ash  roads  might  be  made  more  permanent;   objectionable 

methods  of  mitigating  the  roughness  of  partially  broken  stone  ...    109 
The  nature  of  the  soil  beneath  a  road  an  index  of  the  comparative  cost 
of   construction ;   complications  in  road  making ;   sand  as  a  foun- 
dation,  no 


x  CONTENTS. 

Value  of  sand  as  a  permanent  cushion  for  stone ;    a  case  in  actual  street 

practice, m 

Variation  in  relative  value  of  stone,  sand  and  clay  in  different  districts ; 

refuse  stone,  brickbats,  etc., 112 

Necessity  of  keeping  a  clay  foundation  dry;  drains  and  ditches,    ...    113 
Provision  against  water;   drainage  to  be  done  separately  from  road 

work;  R.  R.  Bramley's  caution  against  stones  with  clay  in  them,  .    .    114 

Danger  from  clay  and  how  to  avoid  it, 115 

Sample  of  the  "greedy"  stone  road  work, 116 

Objections  to  hastily  built  "better  roads," 117 

Roads  of  broken  stone  in  Southern  England, 118 

Effect  of  corrupt  examples  of  metropolitan  engineering  on  rural  road 

making;  macadamizing  as  defined  by  some  encyclopaedias,   ....    119 

Cubic  measurement  for  broken  stone  a  fraud, 120 

Size  of  stone  ;  MacAdam's  statement  to  the  Parliamentary  committee,  .    121 

Examples  of  "  bogus  "  engineering^ 122 

Radical  repairs  on  an  old  stone  road  ; .  where  the  fault  generally  lies 

in  old  broken  stone  roads, 123 

Value  of  sand  in  stone  road  making, 124 

Objections  to  porous  road  work, 125 

Fallacy  of  our  philosophy  of  stone  road  work, 126 

Principles  of  common  road  business;  criticism  of  private  road  making,    127 

Iron  pipes  for  surface  draining, 128 

Cement  and  vitrified  pipe  for  draining;  advantages  of  trees  on  a  road,  .    129 
Best  grasses  for  roads ;  definition  of  the  word  turf  as  given  by  a  London 

schoolgirl, 131 

Example  of  wrong  stone  road  making  ;    objections  to  the  arrangement 

by  which  road  stones  are  assorted  at  the  crusher, 132 

Proportions  of  coarse  and  fine  stone  to  make  solfd  work ;  manner  of 
disposing  the  stone  on  the  bottom ;  variety  in  the  shape  .of  the  raw 
road  metal ;  objections  to  the  application  of  chips  and  rock  dust  to 

the  top  of  a  new  stone  road, 133 

To  make  stone  roads  in  difficult  regions  solid  and  permanent ;  the  cost 
of  smooth  roads  no  more  than  that  of  rough  ones ;  failure  of  ma- 
cadamizing streets  in  Toronto,  134 

Red  gravel  and  the  graveling  craze ;  the  proportion  of  finer  filling  must 

be  determined  by  experiment, 135 

Neglect  of  fit  packing  in  common  stone  road  work, 136 

Highway  robbers  of  the   Nineteenth  Century ;  blunders  of  schools  of 

engineering, 137 


CONTENTS.  xi 

Grade,  shape,  slope,  width,  depth  and  length  of  roads ;  history  of  road- 
making,   .    .    . 138 

Forms  of  statute  law  proposed  in  several  states;  article  on  "  Generous 

Rivalry  for  Roads,"  by  Galen  Wilson, 139 

Extract  from  Richard  Jefferies'  last  book, 140 

Destiny  of  our  agricultural  peasantry  of  the  future,     141 

What  easy  and  permanent  wheeling  depends  on ;  present  idea  about 

stone  roads;  gist  of  the  essay, 142 

HONORABLE  MENTION.     PAPER  NO.    13. 

By  Edwin  Satterthwait. 
Need  of  information  on  the  subject  of  road  making ;  common  dirt  roads,  143 

Suggestion  of  changes  in  the  present  road  system, 144 

Objections  to  the  management  of  roads  by  the  State ;  toll  roads  or  no 

toll  roads? 145 

Advantages  and  fairness  of  the  toll  road  system ;  loss  to  communities 

from  bad  roads, 146 

Suggestion  as  to  the  improvement  of  dirt  roads  in  Philadelphia ;  trap 

rock  instead  of  gravel  for  road  making  purposes, 147 

Disputed  points  as  to  the  size  of  the  material  used  in  surfacing  a  road ; 

MacAdam's  system, 148 

The  Telford  system;   comparison  of  the  MacAdam  and  Telford  sys- 
tems,  150 

Roads  in  the  New  York  Central  Park ;  necessity  of  using  screenings 

for  consolidation,     • 151 

Maintenance  of  a  Telford  or  macadam  road  ;  materials  for  road  making,    152 
The  best  measure  of  the  quality  of  stone  for  surfacing ;  trap  rock  and 

granite, 153 

Furnace  slag  as  a  substitute  for  trap  rock;  variation  in  the  quality  of 

slag ;  limestone, 154 

Statement  regarding  Helderburgh  limestone  ;  cost  of  various  materials,    155 
The  intimate  relations  between  railroads  and  road  making  ;  short-sighted 

policy  of  some  railroad  officials, 156 

Grading  roads ;  advantage  of  cutting  away  hills  and  filling  up  valleys  ; 

causes  of  the  inferiority  of  roads  in  this  country  as  compared  with 

those  of  Europe, 157 

HONORABLE  MENTION.      PAPER   NO.    1 6. 

By  Charles  Punchard. 

The  principles  governing  the  construction  of  roads  by  the  Romans,    .    .  160 

The  improvement  of  English  roads  due  to  the  Highway  Act  of  1862,   .  161 

What  constitutes  a  good  road ;  climatic  influence, 162 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

Limit  of  grades ;  disadvantages  of  straight  and  level  roads  in  the  suburbs 
and  country ;  protest  against  changing  abruptly  from  one  gradient 

to  another,      228 

The  formation  and  drainage  of  the  roadbed ;  drainage, 229 

J    Width  and  cross  section, 230 

The  cross  section  of  a  road ;  statement  by  Macadam, 231 

Material ;  the  most  important  quality  in  stone  for  road  making,   ....  232 

Foundation ;  recommendation  of  the  Telford  road 233 

Surfacing;  size  of  material, 234 

Rolling ;  advantages  of  steam  rolling  over  horse-power, 235 

Maintenance;  Mr.  Edwin  Chadwick's  opinion;  control  of  public  roads 

and  footways, 236 

How  the  money  is  to  be  raised ;  drawbacks  to  the  turnpike  system ;  ad- 
visability of  the  county  owning  all  the  public  sideways, 237 

Division  of  roads  into  lengths  for  proper  maintenance ;  destructiveness 

of  visible  wheel  tracks, 238 

Filling  up  of  ruts  or  tracks ;  carting;  watering, 239 

Width  of  wheels ;  trees  and  hedges, 240 

Streets;  asphalt;  wood  pavement ;  granite  pavement 241 

Sewers,  gas  pipes,  etc., 242 

DIGEST   OF    THE   CONTENTS   OF    THE   REMAINING    CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    THE 

ROAD   PRIZES. 

By  Prof.  Lewis  M.  Haupt. 

Introductory ;  disposal  of  the  contributions  not  already  published  ;  classi- 
fication of  the  various  opinions,  243 

General  defects  and  economics;  estimation  of  the  economy  of  good 

roads ;  farm  products  of  Pennsylvania, 244 

Waste  entailed  upon  farm  products  by  clay  roads ;  road  tax  of  Allegheny 

County,  Penua. ;  result  of  the  existing  mode  of  working  out  taxes,  .  245 

The  present  system  of  road  making  a  waste  of  money ;  road  tax  in  Cali- 
fornia ;  water  the  greatest  enemy  of  roads, 246 

Improved  roads  should  be  a  charge  on  the  whole  community ;  macadam 

or  "  turnpike  "  the  best  road;  stock  companies  for  building  roads,  .  247 

Contracts  for  repairs ;  objections  to  borrowing  money  for  roads,  ....    248 

Inadequacy  of  the  old  methods;  how  roads  should  be  built, 249 

Immediate  benefit  to  farmers  from  a  permanent  road ;  losses  caused  by 
bad  roads ;  extract  from  a  report  of  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  on  the  improvement  of  roads, 250 

Suggestions  and  criticisms ;  how  money  raised  for  making  roads  should 

be  used;  a  model  road;  roads  between  cities, 251 

Appointment  of  road  commissioners  and  supervisors, 252 


CONTENTS.  xv 

How  road  tax  should  be  paid ;  width  cf  roads ;  repeal  of  old,  obstructive 

road  laws, 2^ 

Difficulties  in  granting  State  aid ;  division  of  the  State  into  districts, 

how  road  taxes  should  be  paid, 254 

Ignorance  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature  regarding  roads ;  superiority 

of  the  Telford  over  the  macadam  system, 255 

Roads  should  be  metaled  by  the  State ;  necessity  of  a  radical  change  in 

our  road  laws;  objections  to  useless  officers, 256 

Reasons  why  our  roads  are  not  better ;  the  law  not  at  fault, 257 

Abolishment  of  the  system  of  working  out  the  road  tax ;  desirability  of 

State  aid;  equalization  of  taxation, 258 

Removal  of  the  management  of  roads  from  political  control ;  appoint-  , 

ment  and  duties  of  a  chief  engineer ;  State  appropriations  for  the 

construction  of  roads ;  the  legislative  feature  the  keynote  for  good 

roads, 259 

The  fault  of  our  present  system, 260 

Errors  of  the  present  method  of  raising  money  for  roads ;  needs  of  civil 

service  reform, 261 

Division  of  roads  into  classes ;  the  country  road  law  of  New  Jersey,  .  .  262 
Important  points  in  the  maintenance  of  roads  ;  legislation;  construction,  263 
«  Cheap  road  for  heavy  traffic  ;  cheapest  and  best  way  of  making  a  road ; 

improvement  of  earth  roads,  .  .  . 264 

Varieties  of  metal  which  make  good  roads ;  straw  for  making  a  road  bed ; 

peculiar  sand  found  in  some  sections, 265 

Width  of  first-class  roads,  ....  266 

How  to  make  a  good  road ;  systems  of  stone  roads ;  the  Telford  system,  267 

The  macadam  system ;  necessity  of  firm  beds  of  stone, 268 

Grade  required  for  draining ;  gravel  roads  ;  charcoal  roads ;  plank  roads,  269 
Stone  roads;  earth  roads;  top  dressing  of  Telford  pavements,  ....  270 
Top  dressing  for  the  macadam  road ;  limit  of  grade ;  relative  cost  of 

macadam  vs.  Telford, 271 

Comparison  of  cost  of  macadam  and  Telford ;  cost  of  other  roads,  .  .  .  272 
Cost  of  the  ordinary  stone  road  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia ;  cost  of 

building  a  turnpike ;  cost  of  annual  repairs  of  about  zoo  miles  of 

public  roads, 273 

Cost  of  a  good  macadam  road ;  cost  of  earth  excavation,  of  broken 

stone,  etc., 274 

Foreign  roads ;  division  of  French  roads ;  maximum  grade  allowed  on 

French  roads ;  beneficial  results  of  improved  roads, 275 

Advantages  derived  from  the  great  military  road  through  the  Scottish 

highlands, 276 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  SUBMITTED  BY  KNOWN  CORRESPONDENTS. 

Injurious  effects  of  water  on  earth  roads;  the  principle  of  compression; 

a  typical  illustration  of  how  not  to  do  it, 278 

Road  making  to  be  applied  as  a  science ;  division  of  roads  in  Lycoming 

County, 279 

Piking  the  roads  with  limestone,  gravel  or  cinder ;  purchase  of  stone 
crushers  by  the  State ;  width  of  main  roads  and  cross  roads ;  regula- 
tion of  the  breadth  of  wheel  tires, 280 

When  roads  should  be  made  ;  supervisors  should  be  paid  by  the  State,  .    281 

NOTES   BY   THE   SECRETARY. 

The  gain  from  improved  highways ;  direct  and  indirect  waste  of  money 

in  Pennsylvania;  cost  of  keeping  one  horse, 282 

Difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  the  move  for  better  roads ;  injustice  of  the 

unequal  distribution  of  the  road  tax, 283 

Ways  and  means ;  suggestions  as  to  the  proper  method  of  providing  the 

funds  for  improving  the  roads, 284 

Objections  to  the  stock  company  proposition ;  State  aid  under  proper  re- 
strictions the  least  objectionable  plan ;  how  roads  should  be  located, 
inspected  and  approved;  need  of  a  competent  civil  engineer,  .  .  .  285 

Waste  due  to  imperfect  roads  in  Pennsylvania ;  appointment  of  super- 
visors; construction;  diversity  of  opinions, 286 

General  dimensions ;  limitation  of  grades, 287 

Relative  merits  of  the  Telford  and  macadam  systems ;  soils  and  their 

adaptation  to  roads, 288 

Indiscriminate  location  of  roads ;  the  most  durable  road, 289 

Messrs.  Hulme  and  Fisher's  experiments  on  the  absorption,  expansion, 
angle  of  slope,  etc.,  of  crude  materials;  Mr.  Schiibler's  experiments 
as  to  shrinkage,  absorption  and  saturation  of  the  various  soils,  .  .  .  290 

Shrinkage  of  soils  from  the  effects  of  heat ;  pure  sands  best  adapted  for 

the  purpose  of  foundations, 291 

Unsuitable  character  of  clay  or  its  compounds  for  the  purpose  of  a  sub- 
stratum for  roads, 292 

RESURFACING. 

The  elements  relied  upon  by  the  earlier  road  masters  to  secure  durability ; 

variety  of  stone  best  for  metaling, 293 

Specifications  for  resurfacing  in  Philadelphia  County ;  maintenance  of  a 

road, 294 

Rules  published  by  the  Road  Improvement  Association,  of  No.  57  Bas- 

inghall  street,  London,  E.  C., 295 

List  of  contributors 299 

Index, 3°3 


.S** 

WWBBSITT] 


A  MOVE  FOR  BETTER  ROADS. 

PHILADELPHIA,  January,  1890. 

Many  facts  have  recently  brought  sharply  to  notice  how  little  attention 
has  been  paid  to  the  scientific  and  economical  building  and  care  of  our 
streets  and  common  roads,  as  compared  with  our  railroads,  and  have  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  much  of  the  lack  of  appreciation  of  good  common  roads 
and  of  the  necessity  for  skilled  civil  engineers  in  their  construction  and 
maintenance  is  due  to  the  want  of  practical  knowledge  on  the  part  of  most 
people  as  to  what  constitutes  a  really  good  road  and  its  economic  advantages 
over  a  poor  one,  and  likewise  to  insufficient  laws  upon  the  subject. 

In  the  historical  sketch  of  its  road  published  by  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road, it  is  stated  that  at  one  time  the  supervisors  and  track  foremen  were 
satisfied  with  an  excellence  far  below  the  ideas  of  perfection  entertained  by 
the  managers,  and  to  remedy  this  the  latter  adopted  the  plan  of  having  each 
supervisor  prepare  on  his  division  one  mile  of  sample  track,  not  limiting  him 
as  to  cost,  but  requiring  that  it  be  made  as  perfect  as  possible.  The  officers, 
supervisors  and  foremen,  then  passed  over  these  sample  miles,  carefully 
examining  each,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  this  inspection  the  most  experienced 
supervisors  acknowledged  that  they  had  never  before  known  what  a  perfect 
track  was.  '  May  not  much  the  same  be  said  of  the  majority  of  people  in 
regard  to  our  common  roads — that  they  have  little  realizing  conception  of  a 
perfect  road  and  its  economic  advantages  over  an  indifferent  one  ?  Manifestly, 
such  is  the  case,  and  the  remedy  lies  in  the  direction  of  the  education  of  the 
people  up  to  a  better  knowledge  of  good  roads,  which  will  be  followed  by  a 
greater  appreciation  of  and  a  determination  to  have  them. 

Like  all  such  education,  this  must  begin  at  the  top,  and  it  is  therefore 
encouraging  to  notice  that  there  has  been  an  awakening  upon  the  subject  of 
better  roads  and  an  evident  desire  for  more  knowledge  as  to  their  scientific 
and  economic  construction  and  maintenance.  This  has  been  shown  in  a 
marked  degree  during  the  past  year  in  the  numerous  articles  that  have 
appeared  in  pamphlet  form  and  in  the  journals  and  periodicals  of  the  day, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned,  "  Notes  on  the  Making  of  Common 
Roads/'  by  James  B.  Alcott,  and  "The  Road  Question  in  Pennsylvania,"  by 
Samuel  R.  Downing,  in  The  American  ;  "  Road  Legislation  for  the  Ameri- 
can State,"  by  Professor  Jenks,  of  Knox  College,  published  by  the  American 

(0 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Economic  Association  ;  "  Roads  and  Road-Making,"  by  Captain  Francis  V. 
Greene,  and  "  What  I  Know  About  European  Roads,"  by  Joseph  Pennell,  in 
Harper's  Weekly  >  of  which  a  second  edition  was  required  to  meet  the 
demand  for  the  illustrated  article  by  Captain  Greene  ;  "  Highway  Improve- 
ment," an  address  by  Colonel  Albert  A.  Pope  before  the  Carriage  Builders' 
National  Association;  "The  Common  Roads,"  by  Professor  Shaler,  of 
Harvard  University,  in  Scribner*s  Magazine ;  "Resurfacing,"  a  letter  by 
A.  J.  Cassatt,  in  "  A  Plea  for  Better  Roads,"  by  William  H.  Rhawn  ;  "Munici- 
pal Engineering,"  by  Professor  Haupt,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
read  before  the  Franklin  Institute  and  published  in  its  Journal ;  "  Improve- 
ment of  Highways,"  a  series  of  articles  on  the  making  and  care  of  good 
roads,  with  the  draft  of  a  proposed  bill  for  legislative  enactment  to  secure 
them,  published  by  the  League  of  American  Wheelmen — anjorganization  that 
is  now  endeavoring  to  educate  the  people  up  to  a  higher  appreciation  of 
better  roads  and  streets,  and  to  secure  the  enactment  of  laws  providing  for 
them  in  the  several  States — and  the  articles  that  appear  almost  continuously 
in  the  Manufacturer,  and  in  the  American  Athlete  and  other  journals 
devoted  to  "wheelmen." 

The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  in  his  last  annual  message  called  atten- 
tion to  the  subject,  and  the  Legislature,  in  April  last,  enacted  a  law  which  he 
approved,  providing  for  the  appointment  of  "a  commission  to  revise  and 
consolidate  the  laws  relating  to  the  construction  and  improvement  of  the 
roads  and  public  highways  in  this  Commonwealth,  and  also  to  consider  the 
advisability  and  practicability  of  the  State  assisting  in  the  construction  and 
improvement  of  the  same. ' ' 

It  would  appear  that  there  are  few  subjects  of  greater  importance  to  the 
country  at  the  present  time  than  the  establishment  of  the  best  and  most 
direct  means  of  communication  between  its  people,  over  its  highways.  That 
these  highways  may  be  greatly  improved  by  a  better  and  more  scientific 
treatment  than  they  have  generally  received  is  now  undoubtedly  engaging 
the  attention  of  the  intelligent  and  thoughtful.  As  aids  to  a  solution  of  the 
question,  it  is  deemed  desirable  that  exhaustive  papers  upon  the  subject  shall 
be  prepared  by  competent  writers,  upon  the  making  and  care  of  common 
roads  in  accordance  with  the  latest  and  most  approved  methods  of  engineer- 
ing, in  which  the  economic  and  legislative  questions  involved  shall  be 
treated. 

It  is  proposed  to  make  these  papers  the  basis  of  an  effort  to  secure  an 
efficient  organization  for  the  creation  and  maintenance  of  better  highways, 
not  only  in  our  immediate  vicinity  but  also  throughout  the  State,  and  it  is 
believed  that  the  general  benefits  to  be  derived  from  so  important  a  work 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  3 

will  prove  to  be  a  strong  incentive  to  all  public-spirited  citizens  to  co-operate 
in  securing  so  laudable  a  purpose. 

The  Committee  named  below  have  arranged  to  offer,  with  the  approval 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  a  number  of 
University  prizes  for  the  best  papers  upon  the  subject,  in  accordance  with 
the  conditions  hereto  annexed.  Upon  the  receipt  and  publication  of  these 
papers,  it  is  proposed  to  offer  prizes  for  the  best  drafts  of  a  bill  for  legislative 
enactment,  embodying  all  the  most  essential  features  of  a  good  road-law,  the 
passage  of  which,  it  is  hoped,  may  be  secured. 

The  Committee  will  be  pleased  to  have  your  co-operation  in  this  most 
important  work,  and  request  you  to  aid  them  by  enclosing  to  the  Chairman 
your  check  for  TEN  DOLLARS  to  the  order  of  William  Hacker, 
Treasurer.  Copies  of  the  successful  papers  will  be  sent  to  the  contributors. 

COMMITTEE  ON  BETTER  ROADS. 

Charles  Richardson,  George  W.  Childs,  Charles  C.  Harrison, 

Joel  J.  Baily,  George  de  B.  Keim,  Edward  C.  Knight, 

Edward  Longstreth,  Henry  W.  Sharpless,  Alexander  J.  Cassatt, 

Joseph  Wharton,  Henry  H.  Houston,  Charles  Hartshorne, 

George  B.  Roberts,  Justus  C.  Strawbridge,  John  H.  Converse, 

Jay  Cooke,  Benton  K.  Jamison,  John  Sellers  Jr., 

John  R.  Fell,  N.  Parker  Shortridge,  Craige  Lippincott, 

T.  Broom  Belfield,  Beauveau  Borie,  Joseph  E.  Gillingham, 

Charles  F.  Berwind,  Eben  C.  Jayne,  John  Ix>wber  Welsh, 

Lewis  M.  Haupt,  William  Hacker,  William  H.  Rhawn, 

Secretary.  Treasurer.  Chairman. 


CONDITIONS  OF  COMPETITION 

FOR  THB 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  PRIZES 

OF 

$400,  $200,  and  $100, 

Offered  by  the  Committee  for  the  best  three  papers  on  Road 
Making  and  Maintenance,  to  be  submitted  subject  to  the  follow- 
ing conditions : 

1.  The  competition  shall  be  open  to  all,  and  will  be  under  the  auspices 
of  the  University,  with  the  advice  of  the  Committee. 

2.  The  subject  should  include  the  engineering,  economic  and  legislative 
features  of  construction,  reconstruction  and  maintenance,  and  the  advantages 
of  thoroughly  scientific  treatment,  but  omit  history,  excepting  where  neces- 
sary to  illustrate  or  impress  an  argument. 

3.  The  papers  should  be  terse,  logical  and  original  [not  compilations] , 
written  on  one  side  of  a  sheet  only.     It  is  preferred  that  they  should  be  in 
type-writing.     A  paper  may  be  the  joint  production  of  two  or  more  persons. 

4.  The  author's  name  should  not  appear  upon  his  paper,  nor  be  other- 
wise prematurely  disclosed,  but  his  name  and  address  should  be    enclosed 
in  a  sealed  envelope  attached  to  his  paper  in  such  manner  that  it  may  be 
readily  removed  without  injury.     The  papers  and  envelopes  will  be  corres- 
pondingly numbered  as  received,  and  the  envelopes  will  remain  unopened 
until  after  awards  of  prizes  or  honorable  mention  are  determined  upon, 
when  only  those  will  be  opened  which  correspond  to  the  successful  numbers  ; 
the  rest  will  be  destroyed  and  the  identity  of  the  writers  remain  unknown. 

5.  All  communications  should  be  addressed  to  Dr.  William   Pepper, 
Provost,  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  be  presented 
on  or  before  April  5th,  1890. 

6.  The  papers  received  will  be  submitted  to  a  Board  of  five  or  seven 
Adjudicators,  to  be  appointed  by  Doctor  Pepper  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Committee,  which  Board  shall  be  the  sole  judges  of  all  papers  and  will 
not  consider  any  paper  that  fails  to  comply  with  these  conditions.     They 
shall  report,  if  possible,  within  one  month  from  the  date  of  receiving  the 

(4) 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  5 

papers      The  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  Board  upon  the  merits  of  any  paper 
shall  be  final. 

7.  For  the  paper  adjudged  to  be  entitled  to  the  first  prize  there  shall  be 
paid  four  hundred  dollars. 

For  the  paper  adjudged  to  be  entitled  to  the  second  prize  there  shall  be 
paid  two  hundred  dollars. 

For  the  paper  adjudged  to  be  entitled  to  the  third  prize  there  shall  be 
paid  one  hundred  dollars. 

Honorable  mention  may  be  made  of  other  contributions,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Adjudicators. 

8.  When  the  adjudication  shall  be  made  and  reported  to  the  Provost  he 
shall  call  a  meeting  of  the  Committee,  at  which  meeting  he  shall  open  the 
envelopes  corresponding  with  the  successful  papers,  and  award  the  prizes  in 
accordance  with  the  adjudication  to  the  authors  then  disclosed  and  entitled 
to  receive  them. 

The  papers  for  which  prizes  have  thus  been  paid  shall  become  the  pro- 
perty of  the  University  for  early  publication,  after  which  it  is  proposed  by 
the  Committee  to  invite  a  second  competition  for  the  best  drafts  of  legisla- 
tive bills  designed  to  carry  out  the  features  developed  by  the  first  competi- 
tion. 

M.  HAUPT,  WiWviAM  H.  RHAWN, 

Secretary,  Chairman, 

University  of  Pennsylvania.  313  Chestnut  Street. 


REPORT   OF   THE   BOARD   OF   ADJUDICATORS 
TO  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  BETTER  ROADS. 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  i8th,  1890. 
MR.  WILLIAM  H.  RHAWN, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Better  Roads. 

SIR  : — The  Board  of  Adjudicators,  appointed  by  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Pepper,  Provost  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  to  ex- 
amine the  prize  papers  submitted  for  competition  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Road  Making  and  Maintenance,  have  the  honor  to 
submit  to  your  Committee  the  following  resolutions  as  em- 
bodying the  substance  of  their  recommendations  in  relation  to 
this  subject. 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Irrespective  of  the  relative  merits  of  the  several  papers 
which  have  been  selected  for  publication,  the  Board  of  Adjudi- 
dicators  would  respectfully  recommend  to  the  Committee  on 
Better  Roads : 

1 .  That  in  the  improvement  of  roads,  the  Macadam  system, 
consisting  of  small  angular  fragments,  in  sizes  not  exceeding 
from  two  (2)  to  two  and  a  half  (2%)  inches  in  their  longest 
dimension,  according   to   quality,  should   be   used,  wherever  a 
stone  surface  is  both  practicable  and  justifiable. 

2.  That  the  minimum  width  of  the  metaled  surface  for  a 
single  track  should  be  a  demirod  (eight  and  one-quarter  feet), 
of  such  depth  as  the   amount  of    traffic  and  character  of  the 
subsoil   may  require ;    to   be   determined    by  the    engineer  in 
charge. 

3.  That  the  bed  to  receive  the  stone  must  be  so  prepared 
that  it  cannot  be  saturated  with  water,  and  to  accomplish  this 


(6) 


REPORT  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  ADJUDICATORS.  7 

great  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  character  and  drainage  of 
the  subsoil. 

4.  That  there  should  be  legislative  enactment  regulating 
the  width  of  the  tires  of  wheels,  and  that  the  minimum  width 
of  all  cart,  dray,  wagon  or  other  heavy  draught  vehicles  should 
be  four  (4)  inches,  to  be  increased  when  the  capactity  of  the 
vehicle  exceeds  half  a  net  ton  per  wheel,  at  the  rate  of  one  inch 
for  each  four  hundred  (400)  pounds  in  excess. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

A.  J.  CASSATT,  Chairman, 
WILLIAM  SELLERS, 
JOSEPH  M.  WILSON, 
WAYNE  MACVEAGH, 
THOMAS  M.  CLEEMAN, 
WILLIAM  H.  WAHL, 
LEWIS  M.  HAUPT,  Secretary. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  AWARD 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  PRIZES. 

The  Board  of  Adjudication  having  completed  the  examina- 
tion of  the  papers  submitted  for  competition  on  the  subject  of 
Road  Making  and  Maintenance,  and  having  reported  their 
findings  to  the  Provost,  Dr.  William  Pepper,  he  takes  pleasure 
in  announcing  to  the  public  that  the  authors  of  the  selected 
papers  entitled  to  premiums,  or  to  commendations,  are  as 
follows : 
For  the  First  Prize— 

HENRY  IRWIN,  B.A.,  C.E.,  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  Montreal,  Can. 
For  the  Second  Prize — 

DAVID  H.  BERGEY,  B.  Sc.,  M.D.,  North  Wales,  Pa. 
For  the  Third  Prize— 

JAMES  BRADFORD  OLCOTT,  South  Manchester,  Conn. 
And  for  honorable  mention,  without  reference  to  order — 

EDWIN  SATTERTHWAIT,  Jenkintown,  Pa. 

CHARLES  PUNCHARD,  1223  Hollywood  Ave.,  Philadelphia. 

GEORGE  B.  FLEECE,  C.E.,  Memphis,  Tenn. 

FRANK  CAWLEY,  B.S.,  Swarthmore  College,  Pa. 

FRANCIS    FULLER    MCKENZIE,  C.  E.,  5774    Germantown  Avenue, 
Philadelphia. 

These  papers,  with  a  digest  of  others  submitted  in  com- 
petition, will  be  printed  for  the  information  of  the  public  by  the 
Committee  on  Better  Roads.  Application  for  copies  may  be 
made  to  the  Secretary,  Prof.  Lewis  M.  Haupt,  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia. 

WILLIAM  PEPPER,  M.D.,  Provost, 

University  of  Pennsylvania, 

PHILADELPHIA,  October,  1890. 

(8) 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


FIRST  PRIZE  PAPER.     No.  37. 

BY 

HENRY  IRWIN,  B.  A.,  C.  E., 

Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  Montreal,  Can. 


BASIS    OF    REMARKS. 

The  following  remarks,  so  far  as  they  refer  to  the  locating, 
grading,  draining  and  forming  of  roads  in  general,  and  also  to  the 
macadamizing  of  them  in  particular,  are  based  on  the  writer's 
experience  while  in  charge  of  a  district  adjoining  a  large  town 
where  some  of  the  finest  macadamized  roads  are  to  be  found, 
and  while  driving  for  many  years  over  some  of  the  worst  high- 
ways in  the  adjacent  county.  The  remarks  on  asphalt,  block 
stone  and  wood  are  based  on  observations  extending  over  fifteen 
years. 

DIVISIONS    OF    SUBJECT. 

The  subject  is  arranged  according  to  Article  No.  3  of  the 
Conditions,  under  the  following  divisions,  viz. : 

First. — The  engineering. 

Second. — The  economic,  and 

Third.—  The  legislative  features  of  road  making  and  main- 
tenance. 

DIVISION   NO.   I. 

This  part  is  subdivided  into  three  sections,  viz.  i 

SUBDIVISIONS. 
Section  1st. — Construction. 
Section  2d. — Reconstruction,  and 
Section  sd. — Maintenance. 

(9) 


io  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

ROAD  CONSTRUCTION  FROM  AN  ENGINEERING  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

LOCATION. 

SECTION  i. — In  the  older  States  of  the  Union,  where  few 
new  roads  are  required,  except  more  direct  roads  between 
large  towns,  and  in  the  newer  States,  where  the  highways  are 
made  along  section  and  township  lines,  this  question  would 
generally  become  one  of  alteration  of  alignment  where  hills  are 
met  with,  rather  than  of  complete  new  location.  While  it  is 
very  proper  that  the  side  lines  of  townships,  sections  and 
farms  should  be  straight  and  should  run  due  North  and  South 
or  East  and  West,  it  would  be  much  better,  in  many  cases,  to 
locate  the  roads  so  as  to  give  as  easy  grades  as  possible  with- 
out incurring  too  much  expense  on  excavations  or  embank- 
ments, and  so  as  to  avoid  marshy  ground  or  expensive  stream 
crossings. 

The  second  division  would  seem  to  be  the  proper  heading 
under  which  to  discuss  the  actual  advantages  of  easy  grades ; 
but  with  reference  to  location,  the  question  as  to  whether  it  is 
better  to  have  a  straight,  short,  hilly  road  or  one  that  is  wind- 
ing, longer  and  with  easier  grades,  resolves  itself  into  one  of 
determining  how  much  a  road  may  be  lengthened  by  going 
round  a  hill  in  order  to  avoid  a  bad  grade  in  going  straight  over 
.the  hill. 

For  an  example,  let  it  be  assumed  that  a  practically  level 
road  round  a  hill  can  be  obtained  by  increasing  its  length  by  one 
mile;  let  the  average  cost  of  the  road  be  $10,000  per  mile  for 
construction  and  $300  per  mile  for  repairs  and  maintenance. 

The  $300  per  annum  represents  a  capital  of  $6,000  at  five 
(5)  Per  cent.,  therefore  the  total  cost  of  the  extra  length  of  one 
mile  would  be  really  $16,000;  in  addition  to  this,  the  cost  of 
hauling  would  be  increased  by  the  extra  length.  This  item,  how- 
ever, is  difficult  to  calculate  on  a  practical  basis.  It  is  the  farm- 
ers who  are  principally  to  be  considered  in  such  a  case,  and  un- 
less the  extra  mile  prevents  the  farmer  from  making  a  second 
trip  to  town  per  diem,  the  extra  mile  in  length  really  costs  him 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  n 

very  little  extra  except  in  a  slight  increase  of  wear  and  tear  of 
harness,  etc. 

The  above  item  of  $16,000  has  to  be  compared  with  the  cost 
of  hauling  up  the  steep  grade  which  is  to  be  avoided  by  the  de- 
tour ;  suppose  this  grade  to  be  one  in  fifteen  (i  in  15)  and  of  too 
great  a  length  for  a  horse  to  draw  the  same  load  on  it  that  he  can 
on  the  level,  even  by  making  a  spurt ;  let  the  tractive  force  on 
the  level  road  be  one-fortieth  (i-4Oth)of  the  total,  or  fifty  (50) 
pounds  per  ton ;  the  extra  force  required  on  the  grade  of  one  in 
fifteen  (i  in  15)  would  be  about  one-fifteenth  (i-i5th)  or  one 
hundred  and  thirty-three  (133)  pounds  per  ton,  making  a  total 
tractive  force  required  on  the  grade  of  (50  -}-  133)  =  one  hundred 
and  eighty-three  pounds  per  ton,  against  fifty  (50)  pounds  per  ton 
on  the  level.  Now,  supposing  that  the  hill  is  not  too  long  for  a 
horse  to  exert  double  his  usual  pull  on  it,  the  proportion  of  the 
load  he  could  draw  on  the  level  to  that  which  he  could  draw  up 
the  hill  would  be  fifty  (50)  to  the  half  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty-three  (183-2)  or  of  one  (i)  to  one  and  eighty-two  hun- 
dredths  (1.82). 

If  one  hundred  farmers,  using  the  hilly  road,  required  an 
average  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  days'  work  of  one  horse  each 
to  market  their  produce,  with  the  new  road,  by  taking  heavier 
loads,  they  would  only  need  an  average  of  about  eighty-two  and 
one-half  (82 %)  days  each,  or  a  total  of  eight  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  (8250)  days,  against  fifteen  thousand  (15,000)  days 
on  the  hilly  road,  showing  a  saving  of  six  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  (6750)  days'  work  of  a  horse ;  there  would  also  be 
added  to  this,  if  two-horse  teams  be  used,  half  that  time  for  a  man, 
or  three  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  (3375)  days. 
Estimating  labor  at  one  dollar  ($1.00)  and  the  cost  of  a  horse  at 
fifty  cents  (50  cents)  per  day,  the  level  road  would  thus  effect 
an  annual  saving  of  six  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars ($6750),  representing  a  capital  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  dollars  ($135,000),  and  an  annual  saving  to  each 
farmer  of  sixty-seven  dollars  and  fifty  cents  ($67.50).  Now, 


12  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

even  if  the  saving  were  only  one-fourth  of  the  above  item,  or 
thirty-three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  ($33,750), 
it  would  be  still  more  than  double  the  estimated  cost  of  the 
improvement. 

The  advisability  of  improving  the  grades  on  a  road  without 
altering  its  alignment  may  be  arrived  at  in  a  similar  manner. 

In  altering  the  alignment  of  a  road,  provision  has  often  to  be 
made  for  providing  properties  with  access  to  the  new  road  across 
adjacent  properties. 

In  locating  highways  in  hilly  country,  it  will  generally  be 
found  advantageous  to  follow  along  water-courses — a  practice 
which  is  very  often  adoped  in  the  case  of  railways. 

In  going  from  a  valley  over  a  hill  care  should  be  taken  to 
avoid  running  down  hill,  if  possible.  The  advantage  of  having  a 
road  run  close  to  quarries  from  which  good  road  metal  can  be 
obtained  should  also  be  kept  in  view. 

GRADES. 

Before  the  profile  of  the  located  road  can  be  completed  the 
exact  grades  have  to  be  decided  on. 

It  may  here  be  mentioned  that  tables  are  often  to  be  found 
in  works  on  location  giving  the  amount  which  can  be  drawn  up 
various  grades  as  compared  with  what  can  be  drawn  on  the  level. 
Such  tables  are  of  little  use  unless  they  also  give  the  tractive 
force  required  on  the  level,  because  the  effect  of  gravity  in  the 
case  of  a  hill  varies  in  proportion  to  the  sine  of  the  angle  of 
inclination,  and  practically,  for  any  reasonable  slope,  it  varies  as 
the  tangent  of  that  angle,  and  is  independent  of  the  road  sur- 
face, whereas  the  tractive  force  required,  due  to  the  inequalities, 
adhesiveness  and  yielding  of  the  roadbed,  is  the  same  whether 
on  a  grade  or  on  a  level,  and  as  these  last-mentioned  items  vary 
very  much  on  different  roads,  the  proportion  of  the  force  re- 
quired to  overcome  them,  as  compared  with  the  force  necessary 
to  draw  a  load  against  both  them  and  the  force  of  gravity  on  a 
grade  will  also  vary  considerably  according  as  the  road  be  good 
or  bad. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  13 

The  steepest  grade  that  should  be  allowed  on  a  public  road 
is  one  in  twelve  (i  in  12),  and  the  length  of  such  a  steep  hill 
should  not  be  more  than  about  one  hundred  (100)  feet,  in  order 
that  a  horse  may  not  be  overworked  before  reaching  the  top 
with  a  heavy  load ;  such  a  grade,  however,  should  not  be  per- 
mitted except  on  roads  of  little  importance. 

A  grade  of  one  in  fifteen  (i  in  15)  may  be  permitted  for 
about  two  hundred  (200)  feet  in  length,  but  even  this  slope 
should  be  avoided  on  important  thoroughfares. 

A  good  load  can  be  taken  up  a  grade  of  one  in  twenty  (i  in 
20)  for  a  length  of  four  hundred  (400)  feet.  This  is  the  steepest 
slope  which  should  be  allowed  on  a  road  where  there  is  much 
traffic. 

If  it  be  necessary  to  have  more  than  five  hundred  (500)  feet 
of  such  a  grade,  it  is  best  to  divide  it  by  having  intervals  of 
about  one  hundred  (100)  feet  in  length  of  level  road  spaced 
about  three  hundred  (300)  feet  apart,  or  at  places  that  will  best 
suit  the  contour  of  the  ground,  as  there  is  nothing  more  tiring 
on  a  horse  than  a  long,  steady  uphill  pull ;  however,  unless  the 
cost  of  reducing  the  grade  to  one  in  thirty  (i  in  30)  be  too  great, 
it  would  be  better  to  fix  this  latter  grade  as  the  maximum  for 
first-class  roads. 

In  fixing  the  steepest  allowable  grade  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  better  the  road  surface  is,  the  better  and  flatter 
should  be  the  grades,  or  else  the  benefit  arising  from  the  good 
road  surface  will  not  be  fully  realized. 

If  hills  be  not  too  long  to  tire  out  a  horse  and  use  up  his 
reserved  strength,  it  may  be  assumed  that  he  can  exert  an  extra 
pull  on  a  hill  at  least  double  his  regular  pull  on  the  level ;  more 
than  this  should  not  be  counted  on  except  for  very  short  slopes. 

On  a  very  good  macadamized  road,  in  first-class  order,  the 
required  tractive  force  due  to  the  road  bed  is  about  one-fiftieth 
(rfr)  °f  t*16  JQad ;  the  tractive  force  to  overcome  gravity  on  a 
grade  of.  one  in  fifty  (i  in  50)  is  equal  to  this,  so  that  the  last- 
mentioned  grade  should  be  the  maximum  on  such  a  road. 


14  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

On  an  ordinary  good  road,  however,  the  tractive  force  due 
to  the  road  surface  is  probably  nearer  one  in  thirty  (i  in  30),  and 
as  a  grade  of  one  in  thirty  would  require  one  in  thirty  (i  in  30) 
more,  the  latter  grade  would  seem  to  be  the  proper  maximum 
for  long  hills,  if  the  cost  of  securing  it  be  not  too  great. 

A  DEAD  LEVEL  TO  BE  AVOIDED. 

A  long  stretch  of  a  perfectly  level  road  is,  however,  by  no 
means  an  unmixed  good,  for  the  water  tables  or  gutters  at  the 
sides  of  the  roadway  require  to  have  a  fall  of  at  least  one  in  one 
hundred  and  twenty  (i  in  120),  or  one  inch  in  ten  feet  (i"  in  10'), 
so  that  on  a  level  road  the  water  table  would  gradually  increase 
in  depth  below  the  surface  of  the  road,  which  is  not  desirable, 
as  it  tends  to  diminish  the  available  width  of  roadway,  or  else 
the  exits  into  the  longitudinal  drains  or  ditches  must  be  more 
frequent,  which  always  adds  to  the  cost  of  construction.  The 
surface  water  on  the  roadway  also  drains  off  better  when  there 
is  a  slight  longitudinal  slope. 

Having  determined  on  the  grades  of  a  road,  the  methods  of 
construction  have  next  to  be  considered. 

DRAINAGE. 

The  first  item  to  be  attended  to  is  the  drainage,  and  it  is 
as  important  as  any  other. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  make  a  good  road  on  a  wet,  yield- 
ing soil,  except  by  going  to  great  expense  in  providing  a  heavy 
concrete  foundation. 

Money  spent  in  securing  a  good,  firm,  dry  roadbed  will  save 
a  vast  amount  of  trouble  in  attempting  to  maintain  a  good  sur- 
face and  to  keep  it  clean. 

In  Northern  latitudes  the  remark  is  frequently  made  in  the 
Spring  that  "the  frost  has  heaved  the  road." 

It  is  true  that  the  roadway  would  probably  not  have  heaved 
had  there  been  no  frost ;  but  yet  the  frost  does  not  spoil  a  dry 
roadway  ;  and,  in  fact,  it  is  the  ice  thawing  that  does  the  mis- 
chief, and  not  the  frost.  The  proper  remark  to  make  in  such  a 
case  would  be  "  The  road  is  badly  drained." 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  15 

All  roads  should  have  a  ditch  or  drain  about  four  (4)  feet 
deep  on  each  side  ;  these  side  drains  are  generally  open  except  in 
villages  and  towns,  or  in  some  cuttings,  as  noted  later  on.  These 
side  drains  should  be  outside  the  fences  to  prevent  accidents. 
In  wet  places,  low-lying  lands,  clayey  soils  and  localities  where 
springs  are  met  with  under  the  roadbed,  it  should  be  thoroughly 
sub-drained. 

SUB-DRAINS. 

French  drains  are  the  best  for  such  cases.  In  Northern 
latitudes  the  bottom  of  the  drain  should  be  kept  low  enough  to 
prevent  the  water  in  it  from  freezing. 

From  five  feet  to  five  feet  six  inches  (5'  to  5'  6")  would  be 
deep  enough  to  meet  all  ordinary  cases,  but  where  there  are  no 
severe  frosts,  four  (4)  feet  is  deep  enough. 

TILE   PIPES.       STONE   COVERING. 

Ordinary  unglazed  circular  tiles  three  (3)  inches  in  diameter 
should  be  laid  in  the  bottom  of  the  trench,  except  in  cases  where 
extreme  economy  is  necessary.  The  stones  immediately  over 
the  tiles  should  be  laid  with  their  lower  edges  on  the  bottom  of 
the  trench,  and  their  upper  edges  meeting  so  as  to  form  an 
inverted  covering  over  the  tile  pipes  ;  over  these,  cover  stones, 
to  a  depth  of  eighteen  (18)  inches,  are  laid.  Rounded  or  field 
stones  from  two  (2)  inches  to  six  (6)  inches  in  diameter  are  bet- 
ter for  this  purpose  than  those  with  angular  edges,  which  fill  up 
the  spaces  between  the  stones.  In  using  coarse  gravel  of  mixed 
size  it  is  advisable  to  separate  the  larger  from  the  smaller  by 
screening,  and  to  put  in  the  larger  first  and  the  smaller  on  the 
top,  as  the  mixed  sizes  fill  up  the  interstices  more  than  when 
each  size  is  used  separately.  The  smaller  screenings  can  be 
used  on  the  sidewalks,  or  as  binding  for  macadam,  if  clean  and 
sharp  enough.  Over  the  stones  a  layer  of  brushwood  or  coarse 
straw  should  be  placed  to  prevent  the  soil  from  filling  in  between 
the  stones  before  they  become  compacted. 


16  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

SIZE  OF  SUB-DRAINS.      FLAG  STONES  INSTEAD  OF  TILES. 

The  excavations  for  these  French  drains  may  be  made  about 
eight  (8)  inches  wide  at  the  bottom,  and,  if  four  (4)  feet  deep, 
twenty  (20)  inches  wide  at  the  top  ;  when  the  drain  is  only  three 
feet  six  inches  (3'  6")  deep,  it  may  be  eighteen  (18)  inches  wide 
at  the  top.  Where  flat -bedded  stones,  which  break  readily  into 
pieces  with  parallel  sides,  can  be  cheaply  procured,  the  tiles  may 
be  dispensed  with,  and  the  bottom  of  the  drain  formed  by  set- 
'ting  two  stones  vertically  against  the  sides  of  the  trench  and 
covering  them  with  a  third  flat-bedded  stone. 

DISTANCE  APART  OF  SUB-DRAINS. 

The  distance  apart  of  sub-drains,  when  required,  must  be 
governed  by  the  nature  of  the  soil.  When  this  is  gravelly  and 
pervious  to  water,  the  open  ditches  on  each  side  of  a  road,  even 
if  sixty-six  (66)  feet  wide,  are  sufficient  for  draining  the  roadbed, 
as  they  will  act  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  (25  to  30)  feet  on  each 
side  under  such  conditions  ;  but  if  there  be  any  springs  under 
the  road,  especially  if  they  rise  through  an  impervious  soil,  a 
sub-drain  leading  directly  to  the  side  ditches  is  required.  Again, 
should  the  road  be  on  a  side  hill,  a  deep  open  ditch  on  its  upper 
side,  and  none  on  the  lower  side,  may  be  sufficient  to  keep  the 
roadbed  dry.  In  such  a  case  the  surface  water  from  the  water 
table  on  the  lower  side  of  the  road  would,  unless  there  were 
ditches  at  proper  distances  on  the  lower  side,  have  to  be  con- 
ducted across  and  under  the  road  by  ordinary  dry  stone  culverts 
at  suitable  intervals,  depending  on  the  grade  of  the  road.  In 
such  a  case  the  question  would  have  to  be  considered  as  to 
whether  it  would  be  cheaper  to  make  a  French  drain  under  the 
water  table,  on  the  lower  side,  and  to  leave  openings  for  the 
water  table  to  drain  into,  instead  of  making  culverts  at  such 
intervals  as  might  be  required. 

When  a  cutting  is  deep  and  takes  up  too  much  land,  it  may 
be  advisable  to  make  a  French  drain  under  the  water  table  on 
each  side  instead  of  open  ditches  ;  a  comparative  estimate  would 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  17 

have  to  be  made  to  ascertain  which  is  the  more  advantageous 
method. 

CLAYEY    SUB-SOIL. 

When  the  road  passes  over  clayey  or  impervious  soil,  sub- 
drains  become  necessary  along  the  centre  of  the  road,  unless 
the  roadway  be  extremely  narrow.  A  drain  in  such  soil  will 
not  be  efficient  for  more  than  from  ten  to  fifteen  (10  to  15)  feet 
on  each  side.  It  is  obvious  that  in  the  case  of  a  sixty-six  (66) 
foot  road  having  open  ditches  outside  the  fences,  with  their 
inner  sides  at  least  twenty-seven  (27)  feet  from  the  centre  of 
the  road  allowance,  a  French  drain  will  be  necessary  in  the 
centre  of  the  roadbed  where  a  clayey  or  impervious  soil  is 
passed  over. 

CATCH-WATER    DRAINS. 

In  all  cuttings  over  four  or  five  (4  or  5)  feet  in  depth  small 
catch-water  drains  should  be  made  along  the  top  of  the  bank  to 
prevent  the  surface  water  from  washing  away  the  slopes  ;  such 
drains  are,  of  course,  not  necessary  when  the  original  surface  of 
the  ground  slopes  away  from  the  cutting. 

BERM   AT    FOOT   OF    SLOPE. 

A  berm  of  about  (i)  foot  in  width  should  be  left  between 
the  foot  of  the  slope  and  the  sidewalk  in  a  cutting ;  and  the  side- 
walk should  be  raised  six  (6)  inches  above  the  foot  of  the  slope 
to  keep  it  clear  of  the  water  from  the  slope. 

UNIFORM    INCLINATION    FOR   DRAINS. 

In  constructing  all  drains  care  should  be  taken  to  preserve 
a  uniform  grade  in  the  bottom.  For  this  purpose  the  workmen 
should  use  "  boning  rods,"  which  seem  to  be  seldom  thought  of 
in  this  country.  Three  are  used  at  a  time,  made  of  pine  about 
three  (3)  inches  wide  and  one  (i)  inch  thick;  two  of  them  are 
about  four  (4)  feet  long  and  pointed  at  the  end,  and  the  third  is 
about  three  (3)  feet  long  and  left  square  at  the  end ;  all  have  a 
cross  piece  at  the  upper  end  about  one  foot  long,  set  square  to 
the  upright  part.  The  pointed  rods  are  driven  into  the  ground 


1 8  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

where  the  grade  pegs  are  given  till  the  top  of  the  cross  piece  is 
as  high  above  the  desired  grade  as  the  entire  length  of  the 
unpointed  rod ;  then  by  sighting  along  the  tops  of  the  two  rods 
driven  into  the  ground,  when  the  top  of  the  third  rod  is  brought 
level  with  the  tops  of  the  fixed  rods  its  foot  will  be  at  the 
desired  grade.  By  this  means  the  bottom  of  the  drains  can  be 
perfectly  graded  from  grade  pegs  set  two  hundred  (200)  feet 
apart.  These  "boning  rods"  should  also  be  used  in  grading 
the  roadway. 

GRADES   OF   DRAINS. 

In  determining  the  grades  for  drains  it  is  well  to  make 
them  so  that  they  shall  be  a  certain  number  of  inches  in  ten  (10) 
or  twelve  (12)  feet.  A  plank  with  one  edge  bevelled  off  to  the 
given  grade  is  generally  used ;  thus,  for  example,  one  (i)  in  one 
hundred  and  twenty  (120)  is  one  (i)  inch  in  twelve  (12)  feet,  one 

(1)  in  sixty  (60)  is  two  (2)  inches  in  ten  (10)  feet,  and  so  on. 

CULVERTS. 

Culverts  to  carry  the  drainage  across  a  road  should,  if  pos- 
sible, be  made  of  stone,  as  timber  does  not  last  long,  and  the 
caving-in  of  wooden  culverts  is  a  common  cause  of  accidents. 
In  all  cases  they  should  be  made  larger  than  sufficient  to  dis- 
charge the  greatest  known  or  estimated  quantity  of  water 
which  has  to  pass  through  them,  and  their  slope  should  not  be 
less  than  one  (i)  in  one  hundred  and  twenty  (120). 

Small  culverts  up  to  about  two  feet  six  inches  (2'  6")  square 
may  be  built  of  dry  stone,  but  where  they  have  to  carry  consid- 
erable streams  they  should  be  built  in  cement  or  good  hydraulic 
mortar.  It  would  be  better  not  to  build  any  culverts  with 
openings  less  than  two  feet  by  one  foot  six  inches  (2'  x  i'6"),  as  a 
boy  can  then  pass  through  them  to  examine  them.  The  cover 
stones  should  have  a  bearing  of  at  least  six  (6)  inches  on  each  side 
wall,  and  should  not  be  less  than  nine  (9)  inches  thick  for  a  two 

(2)  foot  opening  and  about  twelve  (12)  inches  thick  for  a  three 
foot  opening ;  the  side  walls  should  be  about  two  (2)  feet  thick, 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  19 

with  their  foundations  separate  from  the  pavement  of  the  water- 
way, and  they  should  be  extended  beyond  the  culvert  itself  at  a 
slope  of  one  and  a  half  to  one  (i%  to  i)  to  retain  the  bank  on 
each  side.  The  bottom  should  be  paved  with  stones,  and  each 
end  protected  from  scour  by  extending  the  pavement  to  the 
ends  of  the  side  walls,  and  setting  stones  about  one  foot  six 
inches  (i'  6")  long  vertically  across  the  ends  of  the  pavement. 

Where  stone  is  scarce  tile  pipes  may  be  used  to  advantage ; 
these  are  now  made  specially  for  this  purpose.  Their  ends 
should  be  well  protected  from  scour  by  a  wooden  or  stone 
sheeting. 

CROSS   SECTION    OF    ROAD. 

The  proper  cross  section  of  the  road  is  the  next  point  to  be 
settled. 

Across  all  level  lands  the  crown  of  the  road  should  be  raised 
at  least  one  foot  above  the  surface  of  the  ground.  If  the  side 
ditches  be  made  three  (3)  feet  below  the  surface,  one  foot  wide 
at  the  bottom  and  with  their  slides  sloping  one  to  one  (i  to  i), 
they  will  be  each  seven  (7)  feet  wide  at  the  top,  the  two  together 
forming  twenty-four  (24)  square  feet  in  section.  The  earth 
from  these  ditches  will  raise  the  sidewalk  spaces  one  (i)  foot 
high  and  six  (6)  feet  wide,  and  will  also  fill  in  the  margins  of  the 
road  to  the  necessary  height,  while  the  paving  and  road  metal 
will  raise  the  central  pa\ed  portion  from  thirteen  (13)  to  fifteen 
(15)  inches  above  the  natural  surface. 

TRANSVERSE   SLOPE. 

In  the  case  of  a  well-maintained  macadam  road  a  trans- 
verse slope  of  one  (i)  in  thirty  (30)  from  the  centre  to  the  sides 
is  ample.  But  unless  the  road  is  to  be  very  well  kept,  it  would 
be  advisable  to  give  two  (2)  or  three  (3)  inches  more  slope  to 
the  last  four  (4)  or  five  (5)  feet ;  one  (i)  inch  per  yard  or  one  (i) 
in  thirty-six  (36)  is  sufficient  for  wooden  blocks  or  stone  pave- 
ment ;  while  one  in  forty  (i  in  40)  is  enough  for  asphalt. 


2O  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

EXPLANATION    OF   TERMS. 

To  avoid  any  misunderstanding  as  to  the  precise  meaning 
of  the  terms  "  Road  Allowance,"  "Roadway"  and  "Roadbed," 
it  may  be  stated  that  the  full  width  of  land  reserved  for  road 
purposes  will  always  be  referred  to  below  as  the  "  Road  Allow- 
ance," the  portion  thereof  used  by  vehicles  as  the  "  Roadway," 
while  the  term  "  Roadbed"  will  be  applied  to  the  surface  of  the 
roadway  at  sub-grade,  on  which  the  stone  or  other  foundations 
for  upper  coating  of  the  roadway  is  placed. 

TRANSVERSE    SECTION. 

Some  prefer  a  circular  section  of  uniform  radius,  while 
others  advocate  a  plane  uniform  slope  from  the  centre  to  each 
side,  with  the  apex  at  the  centre  rounded  off.  The  writer  pre- 
fers the  latter  section,  provided  that  the  longitudinal  drainage 
is  very  efficient ;  but  in  places  where  there  are  heavy  snowfalls, 
which  thaw  rapidly,  or  where  there  are  very  heavy  rains  lasting 
for  some  time,  the  writer  would  prefer  to  combine  both  sections 
in  giving  the  paved  portion  of  the  roadway  a  plane  uniform 
slope,  with  the  apex  rounded  off,  and  then  rounding  off  the  last 
five  (5)  or  six  (6)  feet  of  the  margin  with  a  quicker  slope,  leav- 
ing the  last  foot  level  for  the  water-table.  On  a  thirty  (30)  foot 
roadway  the  transverse  slope  should  be  four  (4)  inches  for  the 
first  nine  (9)  feet,  two  (2)  inches  for  the  next  three  (3)  feet  and 
two  (2)  inches  for  the  next  (2)  feet,  leaving  one  foot  horizontal 
for  the  water-table. 

SIDEWALKS. 

The  sidewalk  spaces  may  be  made  six  (6)  feet  wide,  with  an 
allowance  for  a  one  to  one  (i  to  i)  slope  at  each  side,  though 
when  once  the  earth  has  become  consolidated  and  some  grass 
has  grown  at  the  sides,  the  edge  next  the  road  may  be  cut  down 
almost  vertically.  If  the  water  tables  be  paved  and  curb  stones 
be  used,  this  edge  will  be  vertical  from  the  first. 

In  the  case  of  a  sixty-six  (66)  foot  road  allowance,  where 
there  is  no  cutting  or  'filling,  a  thirty  (30)  foot  roadway,  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  21 

longitudinal  ditches  and  a  six  (6)  foot  sidewalk  on  each  side  will 
take  up  the  full  width  of  the  road  allowance. 

WIDTHS    OF    ROADWAY. 

Country  roads,  however,  do  not  require  a  thirty  (30)  foot 
roadway.  If  extreme  economy  be  necessary,  the  central  part  of 
the  roadway  may  be  macadamized  for  a  width  of  only  eight  (8) 
feet ;  this  is  about  the  least  width  that  a  vehicle  can  be  readily 
driven  on.  In  such  a  case  it  would  not  be  advisable  to  make  the 
entire  roadway  less  than  twenty  (20)  feet  wide,  so  that  vehicles 
may  pass  on  either  side  of  the  central  portion,  and  that  the 
macadamized  part  may  be  easily  widened  in  the  future. 

To  provide  for  a  pretty  constant  traffic  in  both  directions, 
the  macadamized  portion  of  the  roadway  should  be  sixteen  (16) 
feet  wide,  as  the  axles  of  wagons  or  buggies  are  usually  five 
feet  eight  inches  ($'  8")  in  length,  or  five  feet  two  inches  (5'  2") 
from  one  wheel  to  the  further  end  of  an  axle  ;  therefore,  allow- 
ing a  space  of  two  (2)  feet  between  the  ends  of  the  axles  of 
two  vehicles  when  passing,  and  two  (2)  feet  from  the  further 
wheel  to  the  outside  of  the  paved  part  of  the  roadway,  sixteen 
feet  four  inches  (i6'4"),  or,  in  round  numbers,  sixteen  (16)  feet, 
would  appear  to  be  the  proper  width  to  allow  vehicles  always  to 
keep  their  own  side  of  the  road  without  going  off  the  paved 
portion,  while  it  will  also  give  a  play  of  nearly  two  (2)  feet  on 
each  side,  and  of  nearly  four  (4)  feet  altogether,  in  the  width 
allowed  to  the  vehicles  to  travel  over,  thus  leaving  space  enough 
for  vehicles  to  avoid  always  going  in  the  same  track  and  wear- 
ing the  roa'dway  into  ruts. 

If  any  further  addition  is  to  be  made  to  the  width  of  the 
macadamized  part,  it  should  be  enough  to  allow  three  {3)  vehi- 
cles to  pass  over  it  abreast,  i.  e.y  sixteen  (16)  feet  and  seven  (7) 
feet  four  (4)  inches,  or  twenty-three  feet  eight  inches  in  all ; 
twenty-two  (22)  feet,  however,  is  a  common  width  for  the  paved 
part  of  a  roadway  of  this  description,  as  the  difference  of  one 
foot  eight  inches  (i'  8")  can  be  gained  by  reducing  the  two  (2) 
feet  of  spare  width  at  the  outsides  by  ten  (10)  inches  on  each 


22  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

side ;  however,  the  clear  width  between  the  sidewalks  should 
not  be  less  than  twenty-four  (24)  feet,  while  a  thirty  (30)  foot 
roadway  will  allow  four  vehicles  to  meet  abreast,  and  thirty-five 
(35)  feet  is  enough  for  a  regular  traffic  of  four  vehicles. 

WIDTH    FOR   DITCHES    AND    SIDEWALKS. 

After  deducting  the  width  required  for  the  roadway,  allow- 
ance must  be  made  for  the  side  ditches  ;  if  these  be  one  (i)  foot 
wide  at  the  bottom  and  three  (3)  feet  deep  below  the  original 
surface  of  the  ground,  they  will  be  seven  (7)  feet  wide  at  the 
top,  provided  that  the  slopes  be  made  one  to  one  (i  to  i),  which 
is  as  steep  as  the  sides  will  usually  stand  at.  One  (i)  foot  more 
should  be  allowed  outside  the  ditch  to  the  limit  of  the  road 
allowance,  and  also  a  berm  of  at  least  two  (2)  feet  between  the 
side  of  the  ditch  next  the  road  and  the  fence,  which  should 
always  be  placed  between  the  ditch  and  the  roadway  to  prevent 
accidents,  and  not  outside  the  ditch,  as  is  often  the  case.  The 
two  ditches,  then,  with  the  spaces  on  each  side,  will  take  up 
twenty  (20)  feet  of  the  road  allowance.  Two  feet  would  be 
required  from  the  outside  of  the  fence  to  the  edge  of  the  side- 
walk, and  six  (6)  inches  more  for  the  slope  down  from  the  side- 
walk to  the  roadway ;  allowing  six  (6)  feet  for  the  sidewalk,  a 
total  width  of  eight  feet  six  inches  (8'  6")  would  be  required  for 
the  fence  and  sidewalk  on  one  side,  and  twenty-eight  feet  six 
inches  (28'  6")  for  the  two  ditches  and  the  fence  and  sidewalk 
on  one  side. 

If  the  roadway  be  made  twenty-four  (24)  feet  wide  ~.nd  the 
road  allowance  be  sixty-six  (66)  feet  wide,  there  would  still 
remain  thirteen  feet  six  inches  (13'  6"),  of  which  two  feet  would 
be  required  for  the  fence  and  the  slope  up  to  the  road  margin, 
next  the  inside,  leaving  eleven  feet  six  inches  (n'  6")  to  spare 
on  one  side  where  there  is  no  cutting  or  embankment. 

BEST   SIDE   FOR   THE   SIDEWALK. 

This  space  should,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable,  be  left  on 
the  South  and  West  sides  of  the  road,  so  as  to  allow  the  side- 
walk, if  there  be  only  one,  to  be  made  on  the  North  and  East 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

sides,  on  which  the  sun  shines  the  most,  and,  therefore,  will  dry 
the  sidewalk  the  most  quickly. 

PLACES   FOR    STORING   MACADAM. 

The  space  on  the  opposite  side  from  the  sidewalk  is,  in  the 
case  of  macadamized  roads,  utilized  for  storing  the  macadam, 
which  is  generally  placed  where  there  is  most  land  to  spare  at 
level  parts  of  the  road. 

SLOPES   IN   CUTTINGS. 

In  cuttings  or  embankments  in  ordinary  loose  earth  or 
gravel,  the  side  slopes  should  .be  made  one  and  one-half  horizon- 
tal to  one  vertical  (\y2  to  i)  ;  in  rock  one-quarter  to  one  (%  to 
i)  is  sufficient ;  for  stiff  clay  two  to  one  (2  to  i)  should  be 
allowed,  and  soft  greasy  clay  requires  a  slope  of  three  to  one  (3 
to  i)  to  be  allowed  for.  In  the  case  of  ordinary  earth,  when 
cuttings  or  embankments  are  not  more  than  five  (5)  feet  high,  a 
slope  of  one  to  one  (i  to  i)  is  sufficient,  and  one-half  to  one  (ft 
to  i)  for  stiff  clay. 

SLOPING   GROUND   TO    BE    STEPPED. 

In  the  case  of  embankments,  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
when  it  has  a  transverse  slope,  such  as  would  cause  the  bank  to 
slide  laterally,  should  be  cut  into  steps  before  the  embankment 
is  commenced.  The  necessity  for  this  for  any  particular  slope 
can  only  be  determined  by  the  conditions  of  the  case,  it  being 
remembered  that  water  getting  in  between  the  original  surface 
and  the  made  ground  will  render  the  embankment  very  liable  to 
slide. 

All  trees,  stumps,  brush  and  vegetable  matter  should  be 
cleared  off  the  surface  before  the  embankment  is  commenced. 

PLANKS    ON    CLAY   ROAD. 

Where  a  bank  has  to  be  made  of  soft  clay,  it  is  well  to  lay 
two  (2)  inch  planks  over  the  roadbed  before  placing  the  stone 
on  it,  as  the  clay  can  then  consolidate  before  the  wood  could 


24  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

rot  away  sufficiently  to  let  the  stones  get  out  of  level.  A  clay 
filling,  however,  should  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible,  as  there 
are  some  clays  which  will  stand  in  an  almost  perpendicular  bank 
while  being  excavated,  and  yet  when  exposed  to  the  weather  on 
an  embankment  will  spread  away  till  they  take  a  slope  of  four 
(4)  or  five  (5)  to  one  (i). 

SOWING  GRASS  ON  SLOPES. 

The  slopes  of  all  cuttings  or  banks  should  be  sown  with 
grass  seed,  so  as  to  prevent  their  being  washed  away  by  rain 
and  damaged  by  frost.  If  the  cost  be  not  too  great,  the  surface 
soil  should  be  reserved  and  spread  over  the  side  slopes. 

SAVING   EXTRA   WIDTH. 

In  cuttings  or  embankments  over  six  (6)  or  eight  (8)  feet 
deep  the  roadway  may  be  reduced  to  a  width  of  twenty  (20)  feet 
to  save  taking  extra  land,  and  in  cuttings  French  drains  may  be 
made  under  the  water-tables  instead  of  open  ditches  for  the 
same  object. 

DRY   STONE   WALLS.       TREES   TO   BE    KEPT   FROM   DRAINS.      TREES 
ON   NORTH    AND   EAST   SIDES. 

In  some  cases  it  may  be  found  economical  to  build  dry  walls 
about  five  (5)  feet  high  at  the  foot  of  slopes  to  save  width. 
Where  French  drains  are  made  trees  should  not  be  allowed  near 
enough  to  them  for  their  roots  to  get  into  and  block  the  drain. 
In  this  connection  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  roots  of  a 
tree  will  spread  out  further  from  the  stem  than  the  branches, 
and  that  in  dry  ground  they  will  always  spread  out  toward 
water.  In  general,  trees  should  only  be  allowed  on  the  North 
and  East  sides  of  roads,  so  as  to  allow  the  sun  and  wind  to  dry 
them  as  much  as  possible  ;  this  precaution  is  specially  necessary 
in  damp  or  level  places. 

ROADBED    TO    BE    ROLLED. 

The  roadbed,  having  been  brought  to  the  required  grade 
both  transversely  and  longitudinally,  should  be  rolled  several 
times  so  as  to  make  the  surface  firm  and  compact.  While  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  25 

rolling  is  in  progress  all  inequalities  caused  by  it  should  be 
levelled  up  and  rolled,  and  it  is  well,  in  the  first  place,  to  make 
allowance  for  the  settlement  due  to  the  rolling  according  as  the 
portion  to  be  rolled  be  in  cutting  or  embankment. 

WEIGHT    OF    ROLLER. 

If  it  can  be  obtained,  a  roller  of  not  less  than  ten  tons  in 
weight  should  be  used.  A  steam  roller  is  best  both  for  the  road- 
bed and  for  the  subsequent  paving,  as  it  does  not  disturb  the 
surface,  and  if  it  could  be  frequently  or  continuously  used  would 
be  as  economical  as  a  horse  roller.  If  horses  are  used,  a  suffi- 
cient number  should  be  employed  to  draw  it  easily,  and  so  as  not 
to  cut  up  the  surface  by  straining  too  much  to  pull  the  load. 

SURFACE    MATERIAL. 

The  next  point  to  consider  is  the  material  of  which  the  sur- 
face of  the  roadway  is  to  be  formed. 

ROADWAYS    IN    CITIES. 

For  large  cities  either  asphalt,  stone  blocks  or  wooden 
blocks,  or  brick  are  largely  used,  and  their  use  will  increase  as 
people  begin  to  realize  that  the  first  cost  of  a  roadway  is  not  the 
only  item  of  expense,  and  that  the  annual  cost  of  keeping  up 
badly-made  roads  often  represents  a  capital  sum  far  greater 
than  that  which  would  be  required  to  make  a  first-class  road. 

FOUNDATION. 

For  the  four  classes  of  pavement  just  mentioned  concrete 
forms  the  best,  and  in  the  long  run  the  most  economical  foun- 
dation. The  concrete  need  not  be  so  rich  in  cement  as  it  is 
sometimes  made.  The  annual  report  of  the  City  Surveyor  of 
Montreal,  for  1888,  shows  that  a  concrete  foundation  six  (6) 
inches  deep,  and  composed  of  one  (i)  part  of  Portland  cement 
to  three  (3)  paus  of  sand  and  four  and  one-half  (4^)  parts  of 
two  and  one-half  (2%  )  inch  broken  stone  is  amply  strong  enough 
to  support  a  heavy  traffic  and  also  to  withstand  the  effects  of 
the  severe  frosts  in  that  city.  This  foundation  costs  from  ninety- 
five  (95)  cents  to  one  dollar  (gi.oo)  per  square  yard.  Before 


26  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

definitely  fixing  the  proportions  of  the  cement,  sand  and  broken 
stone  for  the  concrete,  it  is  well  to  try  how  much  cement  is 
required  to  fill  the  voids  in  the  sand  and  allow  about  ten  (10) 
per  cent,  extra,  and  also  to  try  how  much  sand  will  fill  the  voids 
in  the  broken  stone  that  is  to  be  used,  and  add  about  ten  (10) 
per  cent,  to  this.  If  less  cement  or  sand  than  the  quantities 
thus  found  be  used,  the  concrete  will  not  be  strong  or  compact. 
When  a  good  concrete  foundation  is  once  laid,  it  will  last  for  an 
almost  indefinite  period ;  all  the  materials,  however,  should  be 
first-class,  the  sand  clean,  coarse  and  gritty,  and  the  broken 
stone  quite  free  from  mud  or  earth.  The  concrete  should  be 
rammed  till  the  water  shows  on  the  surface,  and  in  hot  or  dry 
weather  it  should  be  protected  from  the  sun  and  wind  with  old 
boards  or  tarpaulins  until  it  is  covered  with  the  pavement. 
Traffic  should  be  kept  off  the  road  until  the  concrete  has  had 
time  to  set  properly. 

FOUNDATION    OF    CONCRETE. 

On  such  a  foundation  any  class  of  pavement  can  afterward 
be  laid ;  for  instance,  if  brick  or  wood  be  laid  at  first,  when  it  is 
worn  out  and  the  traffic  has  become  so  heavy  that  block  stone 
must  be  laid,  then  all  that  is  required  besides  the  stone  is  the 
sand,  or  if  asphalt  is  to  be  laid,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  add 
enough  concrete  to  make  up  for  the  thinner  layers  of  asphalt. 

STONE    BLOCKS. 

Where  block-stone  pavement  is  used  it  is  very  poor  economy 
to  set  it  on  anything  but  a  concrete  foundation,  as  the  first  cost 
of  the  stone  is  more  than  that  of  any  other  pavement,  and  it 
lasts  much  longer.  On  the  concrete  the  stones  are  set.  Expe- 
rienced men  should  be  employed  to  do  the  paving.  The  joints 
between  the  stones  are  filled  in  with  sand,  or,  better  still,  with 
grout  of  Portland  cement  or  with  hot  pitch.  A  layer  of  sand 
is  spread  over  the  finished  pavement  and  is  packed  between  the 
joint  of  the  stones  by  the  wheels  of  the  vehicles.  The  writer 
has  always  seen  streets  paved  with  the  stones  at  right  angles  to 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  27 

the  direction  of  the  street  lines,  but  is  of  opinion  that  the 
pavement  would  remain  in  good  condition  longer,  and  that  the 
noise  and  jar  to  vehicles  would  be  greatly  diminished,  if  the 
stones  were  laid  in  rows  diagonally  across  the  street.  If  laid 
at  an  angle  of  forty-five  (45)  degrees  with  the  street  lines  the 
effect  on  the  traffic  would  be  the  same  in  both  directions. 

TRANSVERSE    SLOPE. 

A  transverse  slope  of  from  one  in  thirty-six  (i  in  36)  to  one 
in  forty-eight  (I  in  48),  according  to  evenness  of  surface,  is 
sufficient  to  drain  the  surface  of  a  block-stone  roadway. 

Though  block  stone  lasts  so  long  that  its  annual  cost, 
including  interest,  cleaning  and  repairs  is  usually  less  than  that 
of  either  asphalt,  wood  or  brick,  yet  the  noise  that  it  causes,  as 
well  as  the  jar  to  passengers  driving  over  it,  and  the  shaking 
loose  of  bolts  and  springs  of  vehicles,  make  it  a  very  undesir- 
able kind  of  roadway  except  where  the  traffic  is  very  heavy,  and 
where  there  are  factories  the  noise  from  which  is  so  great  that 
the  extra  noise  from  the  pavement  is  of  no  consequence. 

ASPHALT. 

Where  the  traffic  is  not  too  heavy,  and  the  expense  can  be 
incurred,  asphalt  makes  much  the  finest  roadway,  the  only 
objection  to  it,  besides  its  cost,  being  that  it  is  slippery  in  damp 
weather ;  it  is,  however,  so  smooth  that  horses  falling  on  it  do 
not  often  get  badly  hurt,  and  in  London  they  seem  to  have  got 
used  to  it,  and  seem  to  know  how  to  slide  down  without  hurting 
themselves  or  damaging  vehicles. 

Asphalt,  when  well  laid,  will  last  from  ten  (10)  to  fifteen 
(15)  years,  according  to  the  traffic.  The  writer  has  seen  Trinidad 
asphalt,  as  laid  by  the  Warren  Scharf  Company,  stand  very 
well  under  a  range  of  temperature  from  twenty  degrees  below 
zero  to  one  hundred  degrees  in  the  shade,  showing  that  it  is  not 
liable  to  get  too  brittle  when  cold,  or  too  soft  when  hot. 


28  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

FOUNDATION. 

Asphalt  should  be  put  down  on  a  concrete  foundation.  It 
is  made  up  of  two  layers,  of  which  the  upper  or  wearing  surface 
alone  requires  renewing,  so  that  repairs  can  be  easily  made  and 
are  not  very  expensive.  Great  care  should  be  taken  to  connect 
the  asphalt  with  the  curb  stones  in  a  perfectly  water-tight  man- 
ner. Existing  block-stone  pavements  can  be  used  as  a  founda- 
tion for  asphalt  by  coating  the  stone  with  the  materials  of  the 
lower  layer  sufficient  to  bring  it  up  to  the  proper  grade,  and  then 
laying  on  the  upper  coating. 

LIMESTONE   AND    ASPHALT. 

As  limestone  is  found  in  a  natural  state  impregnated  with 
asphalt  so  as  to  form  a  good  material  for  roads,  the  writer  thinks 
that  an  artificial  mixture  might  be  used  with  advantage.  As  an 
asphalt  roadway  has  such  a  smooth  surface,  the  dust  and  rubbish 
must  be  constantly  removed  and  put  into  dust  bins  at  the  sides 
of  the  street,  or  else  it  will  blow  up  under  the  slightest  wind. 
By  keeping  the  surface  thoroughly  clean,  it  is  not  so  liable  to  be 
slippery  in  damp  weather. 

WOOD    BLOCKS. 

Though  granite  blocks  make  a  very  durable,  and  asphalt  a 
very  smooth  and  pleasant  roadway,  yet  for  smaller  towns 
wooden  blocks  or  bricks  are  more  desirable,  on  account  of  their 
being  cheaper  at  first. 

Wooden  block  roads,  of  either  tamarac,  yellow  pine  or 
cedar,  seem  to  have  been  in  longer  and  more  general  use  than 
brick. 

Wood  makes  a  noiseless  pavement,  which,  when  it  is  in 
good  order,  is  smooth  and  pleasant  to  drive  over.  The  great 
objections  to  it  are  that  it  does  not  last  long  in  good  condition, 
and  that  it  absorbs  a  great  part  of  the  liquid  refuse  on  it,  which 
ferments  or  decomposes  and  gives  rise  to  very  unhealthy  and 
disagreeable  exhalations,  during  hot  weather  especially. 

The  transverse  section  of  a  wooden  road  should  not  be  too 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  29 

flat,  so  as  to  enable  it  to  shed  the  water  from  it  quickly  and 
effectually.  In  London,  England,  the  wooden  pavements  put 
down  some  years  ago  had  a  transverse  slope  of  one  (i)  inch 
per  yard ;  one  (i)  inch  in  four  (4)  feet  is  probably  sufficient 
in  almost  any  place. 

FOUNDATION. 

The  best  foundation  is  concrete  as  above  described,  but  a 
cheaper  foundation  can  be  made  of  gravel  well  watered  and 
rolled ;  a  layer  of  sand  well  rolled  and  covered  with  two  (2)  inch 
planks,  and  another  layer  of  sand,  on  which  the  blocks  are  placed, 
also  makes  a  good  foundation  if  the  roadbed  be  well  drained. 

KINDS    OF   WOOD    USED. 

Of  the  various  kinds  of  wood  used,  pitch  pine  wears  the 
best.  In  London,  after  four  and  a  half  (4^)  years'  use,  the  wear 
on  its  surface  was  almost  imperceptible  ;  its  cost,  however,  is 
too  great  to  admit  of  its  use  in  a  general  way.  Elm  and  oak 
will  not  stand  the  exposure  to  the  weather,  and  creosoting  the 
blocks  does  not  seem  to  be  economical,  as  the  advantages  ob- 
tained from  its  use  are  more  than  counterbalanced  by  its  cost. 

WOODEN    BLOCKS. 

Tamarac,  yellow  pine  and  cedar  seem  to  last  the  best. 
The  first  two  are  used  in  the  shape  of  rectangular  blocks  about 
three  (3)  inches  wide,  by  nine  (9)  inches  long,  and  six  (6)  inches 
deep,  though  probably  five  (5)  inches  is  depth  enough,  since 
when  the  blocks  get  worn  down  to  a  depth  of  about  three  (3) 
inches  the  roadway  must  be  renewed. 

The  blocks  should  be  laid  with  the  fibres  upright  and  with 
joint  spaces  about  three-eighths  (^)  of  an  inch  wide ;  these 
spaces  are  filled  in  with  sand,  cement  grout  or  pitch,  the  last  of 
which  would  seem  to  be  the  best,  as  it  keeps  the  joints  water 
tight.  The  surface  should  be  covered  with  fine  gritty  gravel  or 
coarse  sand.  Yellow  pine  or  tamarac  will  last  from  six  (6)  to 
ten  (10)  years  in  fair  condition  if  defective  blocks  are  promptly 
removed ;  seven  (7)  years,  however,  is  the  most  that  should  be 
counted  on. 


3°  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

CEDAR  BLOCKS. 

When  cedar  blocks  are  used  they  should  be  stripped  of 
their  bark  and  sapwood,  which  causes  the  blocks  to  wear  round 
on  the  top  like  cobble  stones.  Cedar  is  always  used  in  the  shape 
of  full  sections  of  the  tree,  and  is  never  squared,  as  it  would 
then  split  too  readily.  The  blocks  should  not  be  less  than  four 
(4)  inches  in  diameter,  nor  more  than  nine  (9)  inches,  when 
stripped  of  the  bark  and  sapwood.  The  smaller  blocks  should 
be  laid  alternately  with  the  larger,  so  as  to  fill  the  spaces  better. 
The  interstices  between  the  blocks  are  filled  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  spaces  between  square  blocks  ;  gravel  or  sand  is 
rammed  in  with  iron  rods,  and  may  be  covered  with  pitch,  and 
the  whole  surface  covered  with  fine  gravel  or  coarse  sand. 
Blocks,  when  laid  on  sand,  should  be  well  rammed  with  a  maul 
at  least  seventy  (70)  pounds  in  weight. 

REPAIRS. 

Blocks  which  show  signs  of  decay  or  uneven  wear  should 
be  immediately  removed,  and  the  whole  surface  should  be  kept 
free  from  dirt.  Coarse  sand  should  be  occasionally  spread  on  it, 
and  it  should  also  be  well  watered  in  dry  weather. 

BRICK   PAVEMENTS. 

The  writer  has  had  no  experience  of  brick  roadways,  but 
thinks  it  well  to  give  a  brief  account  of  them,  as  they  seem  to 
be  coming  more  into  use  lately.  Brick  can  be  laid  on  the  same 
kinds  of  foundation  as  wood ;  besides  these,  two  layers  of  brick 
are  sometimes  used,  the  first  laid  on  its  side  on  a  layer  of  sand 
and  rolled  or  rammed  into  place.  On  this  a  layer  of  sand  about 
one  (i)  inch  thick  is  spread,  and  on  this  the  upper  layer  of 
brick  is  set  on  edge;  the  spaces  between  the  bricks  may  be 
filled  with  sand,  cement  grout  or  pitch,  and  a  layer  of  sand 
should  be  spread  over  the  surface.  This  gets  well  worked 
into  the  joints  by  the  traffic. 

The  pavement  would  probably  last  longer  and  cause  less 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  31 

noise  and  jar  in  driving  over  it,  if  the  bricks  were  laid  in  rows 
diagonally  to  the  street. 

The  surface  of  either  stone,  wood  or  brick  pavements,  when 
laid  on  sand,  would  be  improved  by  rolling. 

Paving  bricks  should  be  of  uniform  quality,  tough  and  burnt 
almost  to  vitrification ;  in  fact,  some  authorities  claim  that  they 
should  be  completely  vitrified.  This  would  prevent  them  from 
absorbing  moisture,  but  would  tend  to  make  them  brittle  and 
slippery. 

In  Vienna  the  clay  is  mixed  with  a  little  lime,  which  seems 
to  make  a  very  durable  brick.  Paving  bricks  should  be  burnt  in 
special  kilns,  as  the  ordinary  kilns  cannot  be  relied  on  to  give  a 
uniform  quality. 

Good  bricks  will  last  from  fifteen  (15)  to  twenty  (20)  years, 
according  to  the  traffic,  and  its  first  cost  does  not  seem  to  be  as 
great  as  that  of  wood,  while  it  is  much  more  healthy.  It  will  not 
stand  heavy  traffic  like  granite  blocks,  but  for  moderate  traffic 
it  makes  a  clean  roadway,  with  much  less  noise  and  jarring  than 
are  caused  by  block  stone. 

STONE    TRACKWAYS. 

In  towns  where  there  is  heavy  traffic  on  hills,  stone  track- 
ways may  be  laid  to  diminish  traction,  as  the  force  required  to 
draw  a  load  on  a  smooth  stone  trackway  on  the  level  is  only 
about  one  one  hundred  and  eightieth  (i-i8oth)  of  the  weight. 

The  stones  may  be  about  sixteen  (16)  inches  wide,  ten  (10) 
inches  deep,  and  five  (5)  feet  long.  The  space  between  the 
trackways  should  be  paved  ;  for  this  some  authorities  say  block 
stone  should  be  used,  but  the  writer's  experience  in  driving  for 
many  years,  with  his  instruments,  in  front  of  street  cars,  leads  to 
the  conclusion  that  horses  are  very  liable  to  slip  and  strain 
themselves  in  going  up  hill  on  stone  blocks  when  drawing  a 
heavy  load,  and  that  wooden  blocks  would  be  much  better  for 
the  horses,  though  they  would  not  last  so  long  as  stone. 

For  country  roads,  however,  macadam  is  the  most  suitable. 


32  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Plank  roads  may  be  used  in  places  where  lumber  is  very  cheap, 
from  want  of  transportation  facilities  ;  such  places,  however,  are 
quickly  disappearing  on  this  continent,  and  a  plank  road  may  be 
regarded  as  a  thing  of  the  past. 

EARTH    ROADS. 

With  regard  to  earth  roads,  the  remarks  already  made  as  to 
draining,  grading  and  forming  the  surface  applies  to  them  also. 
As  earth  roads  do  not  shed  the  surface  water  readily,  the  water- 
tables  should  be  kept  about  a  foot  lower  than  the  crown  of  the 
roadway.  The  roadway  itself  should  not  be  more  than  twenty 
(20)  feet  wide,  in  order  that  the  water-tables  may  be  able  to  keep 
the  surface  as  dry  as  possible. 

No  stones  larger  than  three  (3)  inches  in  diameter  should 
be  left  on  the  road.  The  writer  has  often  seen  the  ruts  filled  in 
with  large  round  stones,  with  the  result  of  making  an  extremely 
rough  and  bad  road.  In  all  cases  the  materials  of  the  roadway 
should  be  uniform.  No  sods  or  vegetable  refuse  should  be  used 
in  grading  up  the  crown  of  the  road  or  in  filling  in  ruts,  but  the 
earth  chosen  for  that  purpose  should  be  as  gravelly  as  possible. 
The  transverse  slope  of  the  roadway  should  not  be  less  than 
one  in  twenty-four  (i  in  24)  or  one  inch  in  two  feet  (i"  in  2'). 
In  the  case  of  clay  roads,  sand,  old  broken  bricks,  or  even  char- 
coal, may  be  spread  on  the  roadway  to  prevent  the  clay  from 
sticking  to  the  wheels ;  it  is,  however,  almost  impossible  to 
keep  a  clay  road  in  good  order  in  wet  weather,  and  the  time 
and  money  spent  in  trying  to  do  so  would  be  much  better 
invested  in  macadamizing  the  road.  A  very  sandy  road,  which 
is  at  its  worst  during  dry  weather,  might  be  improved  by  putting 
a  little  clay  on  it. 

GRAVEL    ROADS. 

If  gravel  is  to  be  put  on  the  surface  of  the  roads,  the  road- 
bed would  be  formed  as  already  described.  The  gravel  should 
be  first  screened,  so  as  to  remove  all  stones  of  more  than  two 
and  one-half  (2^)  inches  in  diameter.  The  larger  stones  may  be 
broken  and  used  on  the  road,  or  may  be  reserved  for  drains ; 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  33 

the  remainder  should  be  screened  again  to  remove  all  earthy 
matter  and  the  small  gravel  which  may  be  less  than  about  three- 
quarters  (^)  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  small  screenings,  if 
clean  enough,  may  be  used  for  the  sidewalks,  or  for  blinding  the 
last  coat  of  gravel. 

ROLLING. 

The  gravel  should  be  put  on  in  layers.  The  bottom  layer  may 
be  four  or  five  (4  or  5)  inches  thick,  and  should  be  well  rolled  ; 
the  next  layer  may  be  three  or  four  (3  or  4)  inches  thick,  and 
should  also  be  well  rolled. 

As  the  use  of  gravel  implies  want  of  money,  a  roller  may 
not  be  obtainable ;  in  that  case  the  first  layer  should  be  allowed 
to  remain  till  packed  together  by  the  traffic  before  the  second 
layer  is  spread. 

REPAIRS. 

When  ruts  appear  they  should  be  immediately  filled  in,  and 
the  traffic  should  be  directed  over  all  parts  of  the  road  by  put- 
ting logs  or  large  stones  on  the  parts  most  travelled  over  till  the 
whole  surface  becomes  consolidated.  The  same  treatment 
should  be  applied  to  newly-constructed  macadam  roads. 

Where  the  traffic  has  to  pass  over  the  first  layer  of  the 
gravel,  for  want  of  a  roller,  it  should  be  blinded  as  well  as  the 
second  coat. 

In  the  case  of  both  earth  and  gravel  roads  special  attention 
should  be  paid  to  the  drainage,  for  if  the  roadbed  be  not  very 
dry  and  firm,  it  is  useless  to  expect  to  make  a  passable  road. 

MACADAM  ROADS. 

With  regard  to  roads  coated  with  broken  stone,  the  com- 
parative advantages  of  the  ordinary  macadam  road  as  compared 
with  those  of  the  Telford-macadam  combination,  do  not  seem 
to  be  quite  settled  yet  among  many  engineers. 

The  writer's  experience  has  convinced  him  that  the  Telford- 
macadam  system  is  by  far  the  best,  except  where  the  road  is  to 
be  made  over  rock,  hardpan  or  very  compact  gravel ;  in  these 
3 


34  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

t 

cases  the  roadbed  should  be  levelled  off  to  at  least  six  (6)  inches 
below  the  finished  surface,  and  the  macadam  laid  direct  on  the 
roadbed. 

The  writer  remembers  well  a  piece  of  road,  not  in  his  own 
district,  over  which  he  drove  twice  a  day  for  over  six  years,  and 
at  intervals  for  some  twelve  years  more.  On  this  road  large 
quantities  of  macadam  were  spread,  only  to  sink  into  the  yield- 
ing roadbed,  and  become  mixed  up  into  a  shifting  mass  of  mud 
and  stone,  which  must  have  been  at  least  two  (2)  and  possibly 
three  (3)  feet  deep,  and  which  was  no  better  the  last  day  the 
writer  saw  it  than  at  the  first.  Had  the  roadbed  been  well 
drained  and  paved  to  begin  with,  at  least  half  of  the  macadam 
would  have  been  saved. 

The  Telford-macadam  system  is  not,  after  all,  so  much  more 
expensive  than  simple  macadam,  if  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the 
latter  be  used.  The  grading,  draining,  and  the  forming  of  the 
roadbed  cost  the  same  in  both  cases,  and  the  total  amount  of 
stone  costs  nearly  as  much  in  one  case  as  in  the  other,  there 
being  three  (3)  or  four  (4)  inches  less  in  depth  under  the  mac- 
adam system,  while  in  the  Telford-macadam  plan  the  material  of 
the  bottom  pavement  is  cheaper,  having  to  be  laid  by  hand 
instead  of  being  broken.  The  total  difference  in  the  cost  of  the 
two  systems  is  probably  not  more  than  the  value  of  two  (2) 
inches  in  depth  of  macadam  laid  on  the  road,  and  the  cost  of 
that  will  be  saved  in  a  few  years'  maintenance ;  for  when  the 
road  has  a  good  bottom  to  it,  the  macadam  does  not  sink  into 
the  roadbed. 

In  this  connection  the  writer  would  refer  to  an  item  in 
^Engineering  News  of  22d  of  February,  1890,  on  page  189,  refer- 
ring to  roads  to  be  made  in  Franklin  County,  New  Jersey.  From 
this  item  it  appears  that  it  is  proposed  to  make  a  macadam  road 
with  only  four  inches  of  stone,  without  any  foundation  whatever. 
It  is  stated  that  such  a  road  will  cost  $4,700  per  mile,  whereas 
a  Telford-macadam  road  would  cost  $12,000  to  $15,000  per 
mile,  thus  making  it  appear  that  a  Telford-macadam  road  would 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  35 

cost  an  average  of  $13,500  per  mile,  or  $8,800  per  mile  more 
than  an  ordinary  macadam  road. 

Now,  while  the  various  items  of  cost  thus  mentioned  are 
doubtless  correct,  still  the  statement  is  liable  to  mislead  those 
who  read  it  with  regard  to  the  comparative  cost  of  the  two  sys- 
tems. 

The  roadway  referred  to  is  to  be  stoned  for  a  width  of  fif- 
teen (15)  feet ;  this  would  require  about  one-third  (^i)  of  a  cubic 
yard  of  Telford  bottom  pavement  per  foot  run,  which,  at  say 
$2.00  per  cubic  yard,  would  amount  to  66 J-  cents  per  foot  run,  of 
$3,520  per  mile  ;  as  for  the  macadam  required,  if  four  (4) 
inches  in  depth  be  enough  on  an  unpaved  roadbed,  it  would  be 
ample  on  a  Telford  pavement.  On  the  above  basis  then  the 
Telford-macadam  road  would  not  cost  more  than  $3,520  per 
mile  over  the  cost  of  a  simple  macadam  road. 

But  in  point  of  fact,  while  four  (4)  inches  of  macadam  laid 
on  earth  is  better  than  nothing,  it  will  only  make  a  very  poor 
road,  and  one  (i)  foot  in  depth,  as  laid  before  rolling,  is  neces- 
sary to  make  a  good  road  when  laid  on  earth,  and  as  a  depth  of 
only  eight  (8)  inches  is  required  on  a  Telford-macadam  road, 
the  cost  of  the  extra  four  (4)  inches  of  macadam  should  be 
deducted  from  the  cost  of  the  Telford  bottom  pavement  before 
arriving  at  the  extra  cost  of  the  Telford  road. 

The  four  (4)  inch  macadam  road  above  alluded  to  will  prob- 
ably not  be  in  a  satisfactory  condition  till  eight  (8)  inches  more 
macadam  has  been  spread  on  it,  and  even  then  will  not  be  as 
clean  or  as  smooth  as  a  Telford-macadam  road. 

TELFORD-MACADAM    ROAD. 

The  roadbed  having  been  formed  and  rolled,  the  Telford 
foundation  is  laid  on  it  by  hand.  It  should  be  eight  (8)  inches 
deep  at  the  centre  and  six  (6)  inches  deep  at  the  sides,  if  the 
paved  portion  be  sixteen  (16)  feet  wide  ;  but  if  the  paved  por- 
tion be  twenty  (20)  feet  or  more  in  width,  and  the  traffic  be  not 
very  heavy,  and  not  increasing,  the  minimum  depth  at  the  sides 


36  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

of  the  road  may  be  reduced  to  five  (5)  inches.  The  larger  face 
of  these  stones  should  not  be  less  than  five  (5)  inches  wide  and 
ten  (10)  inches  long,  so  as  to  give  each  stone  a  sufficient  bear- 
ing on  the  roadbed ;  and  no  stone  should  be  more  than  fifteen 
(15)  inches  long  and  nine  (9)  inches  wide,  so  that  they  may  not 
be  liable  to  tilt  up  under  a  load. 

These  stones  should  be  set  with  their  larger  face  downward 
and  the  spaces  between  them  well  wedged  up  with  spawls  or 
quarry  chippings.  This  wedging  should  not  be  carried  along  too 
close  to  the  unfinished  face  of  the  pavement,  but  kept  so  far 
back  that  the  chippings  may  be  driven  in  tight  without  disturb- 
ing the  stones  or  pushing  them  apart  ;  generally,  about  fifteen 
(15)  feet  is  far  enough  to  keep  back  from  the  unfinished  face. 

The  pavement  thus  formed  should  correspond  in  slope  and 
cross  section  to  the  finished  surface  of  the  roadway,  and  should 
have  an  even,  uniform  surface  without  any  projections  or  irregu- 
larities. 

As  this  pavement  has  not  to  stand  any  grinding  action  from 
the  traffic,  it  need  not  be  of  very  hard  or  tough  stone,  such  as 
the  macadam  should  be  made  from,  but  any  good,  sound  stone, 
if  free  from  cracks,  may  be  used. 

MACADAM. 

On  this  pavement  the  macadam  is  to  be  laid. 
Before  describing  the  manner  of  so  doing,  a  few  remarks 
should  be  made  as  to  the  macadam  itself. 

DESCRIPTION   OF    STONE. 

The  best  stone  from  which  it  can  be  made  is  a  good,  com- 
pact, fine-grained  syenite,  or  a  basalt  of  a  similar  quality.  Gran- 
ite is  not  nearly  so  good  for  this  purpose,  as  when  broken  up  in 
small  pieces  the  mica  in  it  causes  it  to  break  up  and  grind  away 
too  easily  when  exposed  to  traffic  and  to  the  effects  of  the 
weather ;  but  when  the  mica  is  in  small  grains  it  makes  a  very 
fair  road.  Gneiss  makes  worse  macadam  than  granite ;  slaty 
rock  generally  breaks  up  too  easily;  mica-schist  makes  very 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  37 

poor  road  metal,  as  does  also  sandstone  ;  quartz  rock  or  flint, 
though  it  is  very  hard,  yet  it  is  brittle,  and  it  is  difficult  to  break 
it  into  the  proper  cubical  shape,  and  it  is  not  so  good  as  either 
syenite  or  basalt. 

MACADAM    VARIETIES    OF    STONE. 

There  are  also  other  rocks,  such  as  hornblend,  actino- 
lyte,  dioryte,  or  greenstone,  and  some  trap  rocks,  besides 
basalt,  which  make  good  macadam.  Limestone  from  the  older 
rocks  makes  a  very  poor  macadam,  as  it  is  too  soft ;  however,  it 
is  easily  broken  into  good  cubical  pieces,  though  it  grinds  away 
quickly,  and  the  powder  seems  to  burn  to  a  certain  extent  under 
a  hot  sun,  making  a  very  disagreeable  dust,  which  is  very  injuri- 
ous to  clothes. 

SIZE    OF    STONES. 

Stone  for  macadam  should  be  broken  into  uniform,  well- 
shaped  cubical  pieces  ;  for  the  first  coating  on  the  Telford  pave- 
ment it  may  be  of  such  a  size  as  that  the  smallest  stones  should 
not  be  less  than  two  (2)  inches  in  diameter,  and  that  the  largest 
should  pass,  in  any  direction,  through  a  three  (3)  inch  ring,  and 
the  best  quality  of  stone  need  not  be  used  for  this  coating,  if 
good,  sound  second  quality  of  stone  can  be  procured. 

For  the  top  coating,  and  for  all  future  repairs,  the  smallest 
stones  should  not  be  less  than  one  (i)  inch  in  the  least  diame- 
ter ;  seventy-five  (75)  per  cent,  of  the  total  should  pass  in  any 
direction  through  a  two  (2)  inch  ring,  and  the  remaining  twenty- 
five  (25)  per  cent,  should  pass  in  any  direction  through  a  two 
and  a  half  (2>£)  inch  diameter  ring. 

Stones  less  than  one  (i)  inch  in  diameter  will  not  stand  the 
pounding  of  the  traffic.  They  will  break  up  and  hinder  the  other 
stones  from  binding  properly  ;  while  stones  which  will  not  pass 
through  a  two  and  a  half  (2^)  inch  ring  make  a  rough  road,  and 
do  not  bind  together  well,  being  very  liable  to  tilt  up  under  the 
wheels. 


38  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

HAND-BROKEN    STONE. 

Hand-broken  stone  is  much  superior  to  that  crushed  by  a 
machine,  which  is  generally  of  irregular  shape  and  seldom  cubi- 
cal, so  that  it  does  not  readily  bind  together,  which  is  the  essen- 
tial qualification  of  macadam.  Hand-broken  stone,  however, 
costs  more  than  that  broken  by  a  machine,  but  it  is  a  question 
whether  the  article  which  is  more  expensive  at  first  cost  is  not 
the  cheapest  in  the  long  run.  The  breaking  of  the  stone  to  a 
uniform  size  and  sufficiently  small  is  of  great  importance.  A 
few  large  stones  projecting  above  the  general  surface  consider- 
ably increase  the  resistance  to  traction,  as  the  vehicle  has  to  be 
hauled  up  over  the  stone,  and  in  dropping  down  upon  the  other 
side,  pounds  a  hole  into  the  surface.  This  hole  itself  increases 
the  evil  which  caused  it,  and  an  uneven  road  is  the  result. 

CAUSES    OF    RESISTANCE. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  two  principal  causes  of 
resistance  on  a  macadam  road,  besides  the  effects  of  grades,  are 
this  pulling  of  the  vehicle  over  projecting  stones  and  the  friction 
of  the  wheels  in  their  axles. 

The  friction  of  the  wheels  on  the  road  surface  does  not,  as 
some  authors  seem  to  state,  offer  resistance  to  traction,  except 
when  the  wheels  skid  ;  indeed,  where  there  is  no  such  friction 
the  wheels  would  always  skid,  as  the  friction  of  the  axle  would 
keep  them  from  turning. 

Most  people  are  well  aware  that  sand  has  often  to  be  put  on 
rails  to  make  enough  friction  for  the  locomotive  to  be  able  to 
pull  its  load.  The  extra  power  required  to  draw  a  load  on 
account  of  the  un  evenness  of  the  surface  is  well  shown  by  the 
fact  that  a  horse  can  draw  twice  as  much  on  a  common  block- 
stone  pavement,  three  times  as  much  on  the  best  block  stone, 
and  six  and  a  half  times  as  much  on  a  stone  trackway,  as  he  can 
on  a  cobble-stone  road,  where  the  same  sort  of  stone  is  used  for 
each  sort  of  the  roads  above  mentioned,  and  therefore  the  fric- 
tion between  the  wheel  and  the  roadway  is  the  same  in  all  cases. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  39 

There  are  two  other  causes  of  resistance  on  a  road  which 
should  not  exist  on  one  that  is  macadamized,  except  to  a  very 
trifling  extent.  One  of  these  is  the  yielding  of  the  surface 
under  the  wheel.  This  has  the  effect  of  opposing  an  inclined 
plane  to  the  wheel,  so  that  vehicles  have  then  to  be  virtually 
pulled  up  a  hill  even  when  on  a  level  road. 

The  other  cause  of  resistance  is  the  stickiness  of  the  road- 
way, as  in  the  case  of  a  clay  road  in  wet  weather. 

The  above  are  the  principal  causes  of  resistance  to  traction 
when  the  vehicle  is  in  motion,  though  the  wind  also  offers  con- 
siderable resistance  sometimes.  This  is,  however,  independent  of 
the  nature  of  the  road. 

When  a  vehicle  is  at  rest  its  inertia  has  of  course  to  be 
overcome  when  starting. 

The  advantage  of  having  a  firm  foundation  and  a  smooth, 
hard  and  clean  surface  seems  therefore  apparent. 

SPREADING   THE    MACADAM. 

Having  then  procured  good  uniform-shaped  macadam  of 
the  proper  size,  a  first  coating  four  (4)  inches  thick  of  the  larger 
size  as  above  mentioned  should  be  laid  on  the  Telford  pave- 
ment and  rolled  until  it  is  well  consolidated.  If  possible,  it 
should  be  well  watered  or  advantage  should  be  taken  of  wet 
weather  to  facilitate  the  binding  of  the  materials.  On  this  layer 
a  top  coating  four  (4)  inches  thick  of  the  smaller  broken  stone 
as  above  described  is  to  be  laid.  This  should  be  coated  with  a 
layer  of  fine  screenings  from  the  broken  stone  or  with  fine 
gravel  sufficient  to  fill  the  surface  interstices  between  the  stones 
and  to  cover  them  about  half  an  inch.  If  screenings  or  fine 
gravel  cannot  be  obtained,  a  thin  coating  of  very  coarse  and  per- 
fectly clean  river  sand  may  be  used  instead,  but  on  no  account 
should  any  fine  or  dirty  pit  sand  be  put  on  the  road  ;  coarse  pit 
sand  may  be  allowed  after  having  been  thoroughly  washed  so  as 
to  remove  all  earthy  matter  and  the  finer  particles  of  sand,  which 
would  work  down  between  the  stones,  prevent  them  from  bind 


40  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

ing  and  convert  the  macadam  in  a  short  time  into  a  loose  mass 
of  rounded  stone  little  better  than  ordinary  gravel.  In  this 
connection  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  whole  reason  for 
using  small  uniform-shaped  macadam  is  that  it  will  of  itself 
consolidate,  under  traffic,  into  a  firm,  compact  and  smooth  road- 
way through  the  stones  being  wedged  together  among  them- 
selves, and  that  if  any  loose  earthy  or  other  fine  material  be 
mixed  with  the  stones,  they  cannot  become  properly  consolidated. 

ROLLING. 

The  last  coat,  after  being  properly  blinded,  should  be 
watered  and  well  rolled  with  a  heavy  roller,  preferably  one 
driven  by  steam  and  not  less  than  ten  (10)  tons  in  weight. 

The  sidewalks  should  also  be  given  a  coating  of  fine  gravel 
or  fine  screenings  ;  if  these  be  considered  too  expensive,  cinders 
may  be  substituted,  and,  in  default  of  these,  if  wood  be  plenti- 
ful, a  coating  of  charcoal  will  be  of  service  in  keeping  the  mud 
from  rising  too  much  to  the  surface. 

The  various  works  above  described  would  complete  an 
ordinary  country  road  or  the  roadways  in  cities. 

SIDEWALKS. 

For  the  latter  better  sidewalks  must  be  provided,  either  of 
asphalt,  concrete  set  in  panels,  generally  known  as  granolithic 
pavement,  flagstones,  planks,  wooden  blocks,  or  brick ;  of  these 
flagstones  are  the  dearest  and  last  the  longest ;  asphalt  or  con- 
crete are  very  pleasant,  but  should  be  laid  on  a  proper  founda- 
tion ;  wooden  blocks  dipped  in  creosote  last  well,  as  they  are  not 
subject  to  much  wear ;  well-laid  brick  also  makes  a  good  side- 
walk ;  while  three  (3)  inch  planks,  though  pleasant  enough  to 
walk  on  when  newly  laid,  are  very  unhealthy,  as  the  under  side 
soon  begins  to  rot.  To  prevent  this  as  far  as  possible,  the  planks 
should  be  set  on  sills,  the  upper  faces  of  which  should  be  at  least 
three  (3)  inches  above  the  ground,  and  spaces  of  not  less  than 
one  (i)  inch  should  be  left  between  the  planks  to  allow  air  to 
circulate  under  them. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  41 

STONE    ON    MARGINS    OF   THE   ROADWAY. 

On  a  country  road  where  the  Telford  pavement  does  not 
cover  the  full  width  between  the  sidewalks,  the  margins  on  each 
side  may  receive  a  coat  of  macadam  four  (4)  to  six  (6)  inches 
deep,  so  that  vehicles  which  have  to  leave  the  central  portion 
may  not  sink  into  the  earth  too  much  and  cut  it  up  so  as  to 
prevent  the  water  from  draining  off  the  central  part.  If  no 
stones  be  put  on,  the  margins  should  be  at  least  well  rolled,  and 
the  surface,  therefore,  before  rolling  should  be  left  a  few  inches 
higher  than  the  finished  central  part,  the  exact  extra  height 
depending  on  the  nature  of  the  material. 

FRENCH   DRAINS   IN    VILLAGES. 

In  villages  and  small  towns  French  drains  should  be  substi- 
tuted for  the  side  ditches  for  sanitary  reasons,  though  they  are 
often  planked  over,  and  the  planking  used  for  sidewalks,  thus 
economizing  space. 

The  water-tables  also  may  be  paved  and  curbstones  put 
along  the  edges  of  the  sidewalks.  These  should  be  deep  enough 
in  Northern  latitudes  to  keep  the  frost  from  getting  under  them 
and  heaving  them  up. 

STEEP    HILLS. 

Where  there  are  steep  hills  the  macadamized  part  of  the 
roadway  should  be  made  as  wide  as  possible,  so  as  to  allow 
horses  to  cut  the  road  from  side  to  side  in  going  up  with  heavy 
loads.  On  hills  also,  the  centre  of  the  road  should  be  raised 
three  (3)  or  four  (4)  inches  more  than  on  the  level,  to  prevent 
the  water  from  flowing  longitudinally  down  the  surface,  and  if 
the  hill  be  several  hundred  feet  long,  it  is  well  to  make  shallow 
water-courses  across  the  road  at  intervals  of  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  (250)  or  three  hundred  (300)  feet ;  these  should  slope 
from  the  centre  toward  both  sides  in  a  flat  V  shape,  with  the  apex 
up  hill,  and  may  be  about  one  (i)  foot  wide  at  the  bottom  ;  the 
side  slopes  should  not  be  steeper  than  one  inch  (i")  per  foot: 
and  the  bottom  and  lower  side  should  be  paved  for  a  width  of 


42  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

five  (5)  or  six  (6)  feet.     These  watercourses  will  intercept  any 
flow  of  water  down  the  hill  and  turn  it  off  to  the  sides. 

SOFT   STONE    ON    HILLS. 

The  writer  has  found  that  on  steep  hills  with  a  grade  of 
one  in  twenty  (i  in  20)  or  steeper,  a  softer  stone,  such  as  lime- 
stone or  the  softer  trap  rocks,  binds  better  and  makes  a  safer 
road,  as  there  are  fewer  loose  stones  left  on  the  surface,  and 
the  softer  stone  wears  well  enough  on  a  steep  hill  where  the 
vehicles  go  at  a  slower  pace. 

DEPOTS    FOR   STONE. 

Macadam  is  usually  stored  in  heaps  along  the  roadside  at 
intervals  of  about  six  hundred  (600)  or  eight  hundred  (800)  feet, 
the  distance  varying  considerably,  according  to  the  amount  of 
macadam  used  and  the  frequency  with  which  it  is  spread. 
When  hand  broken,  the  stone  is  usually  measured  at  the  site 
of  these  heaps,  either  before  or  after  being  broken.  The  writer 
prefers  the  latter  method,  as  unbroken  stone  can  be  loosely 
piled  up  so  as  to  leave  a  very  large  percentage  of  voids  in  the 
centre  of  the  pile.  In  making  up  heaps  of  stone  ready  for 
measuring  it  is  a  very  common  trick  to  dig  out  all  round  the 
sides  and  ends,  so  as  to  make  the  heap  appear  much  larger 
than  it  really  is.  To  avoid  this,  and  to  keep  the  stones  clean, 
paved  recesses  are  often  made,  with  walls  at  the  back  and  at 
both  ends.  Another  dodge  is  to  put  unbroken  stones  in  the 
centre  of  a  pile  of  broken  stone. 

MARKING   MEASURED    STONE. 

Immediately  after  stones  are  measured  they  should  get  a 
good  coat  of  whitewash,  as  the  writer  has  known  of  old  stones 
being  mixed  up  with  new,  and  of  measured  stones  being  after- 
ward carted  to  a  neighboring  town  to  be  sold  a  second  time. 
These  tricks  are  often  disclosed  by  the  presence  of  a  few  white- 
washed stones. 

On  one  occasion  the  writer  knew  of  a  contractor  taking 
macadam  from  a  short  road,  which  was  measured  up  in  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  43 

forenoon,  and  piling  it  up  on  another  road,  which  was  measured 
up  on  returning  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  trick  was  not  discov- 
ered for  a  few  days. 

RECONSTRUCTION  FROM  AN  ENGINEERING  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

SECTION  2. — If,  in  reconstruction,  part  of  a  road  is  to  be 
relocated,  or  if  the  grade  is  to  be  changed,  the  various  parts  of 
Section  I  would  equally  apply  to  this  part. 

RECONSTRUCTION. 

In  reconstruction  on  the  original  road  allowance,  and  with- 
out materially  changing  the  grade,  the  first  work  would  be  to 
thoroughly  clean  out  all  ditches,  drains  and  culverts,  and  to 
bring  them  to  a  uniform  slope,  so  as  to  get  the  roadbed  as  dry 
as  possible ;  then,  if  French  drains  are  also  found  necessary, 
they  should  be  put  in  next,  but  only  one-half  of  the  width  of 
the  roadway  itself  should  be  taken  in  hand  at  a  time,  unless  the 
traffic  is  to  be  suspended  altogether.  However,  if  the  surface 
is  to  be  lowered,  this  would  be  done  before  making  the  drains. 
The  next  step  is  to  remove  all  large  stones  from  the  roadway. 
These  can  be  broken  up  and  used  again,  and  if  the  road  has 
been  previously  coated  with  gravel  or  macadam,  this  should  be 
taken  up  and  screened  for  use  on  the  surface  of  the  roadbed,  or 
if  it  be  sufficiently  uniform  and  angular,  it  may  be  used  again 
as  macadam. 

The  surface  should  then  be  brought  to  the  proper  grade 
and  transverse  slope,  and  well  rolled.  If  there  is  to  be  no  Tel- 
ford  pavement,  the  macadam  wHl  be  spread  on  the  roadbed  of 
such  thickness  as  may  be  decided  on,  and  in  layers  of  not  more 
than  four  (4)  inches  in  thickness,  each  layer  being  well  rolled. 
One  such  layer  is  better  than  an  earth  surface,  but  will  not  last 
long,  as  the  stones  are  sure  to  work  into  holes,  for  want  of  a 
proper  foundation. 

Two  such  coatings  will  last  for  some  time,  provided  that 
the  roadbed  is  dry  and  has  been  thoroughly  rolled;  but  if  a 


44  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

good  hard  roadway  is  required,  three  such  coatings  should  be 
applied,  which  will  be  reduced  to  about  nine  (9)  inches  in  thick- 
ness by  rolling  and  a  few  months  of  traffic. 

If  the  Telford-macadam  roadway  is  to  be  made,  it  should 
be  laid  as  described  in  Section  I,  which  also  gives  method  of 
making  gravel  roads. 

Roadways  of  asphalt,  block  stone,  wooden  blocks  or  bricks 
should  not  really  require  reconstruction,  unless  the  foundation 
has  been  badly  or  too  cheaply  made  at  first.  Should  this  be 
the  case,  a  good  concrete  foundation,  as  described  in  Section  I, 
should  be  made,  and  on  this  the  new  pavement  may  be  laid. 

As  already  noted,  a  block-stone  roadway  may  be  used  as  a 
foundation  for  an  asphalt  road  if  the  foundation  be  good  ;  brick, 
under  similar  conditions,  might  also  be  converted  into  the  foun- 
dation for  an  asphalt  roadway. 

MAINTENANCE. 

SECTION  3. — This  may  be  divided  into  three  (3)  subdivi- 
sions, as  A,  B  and  C,  under  the  heads  of  "  Cleaning  the  Road- 
way," "  Repairing  the  Surface,"  and  "  Cleaning  out  the  Drains 
or  Water-courses  at  the  edges  of  the  Roadway." 

SUBDIVISION  A. — CLEANING. 

Cleaning  in  the  larger  towns  is  generally  done  with  brushes 
or  scrapers  drawn  by  horses,  except  in  the  case  of  asphalt 
roads,  from  which  the  refuse  should  be  swept  up  by  hand  and 
deposited  in  boxes  fixed  at  the  sides  of  the  road.  On  roadways 
paved  with  either  stone,  brick  or  wood  or  macadamized,  the 
mud  is  best  removed  by  machines  when  in  a  pretty  liquid  state ; 
the  other  refuse  can  be  easily  swept  up  when  dry.  In  towns 
all  sweepings  should  be  immediately  removed,  and  not  left 
along  the  sides  of  the  roads  to  be  spread  out  again  by  passing 
vehicles. 

On  country  roads  the  scrapings  are  generally  left  on  the 
roadside  till  dry  and  removed  when  convenient.  It  is  well  to 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  45 

encourage  farmers  to  take  the  scrapings  for  top-dressing  their 
fields. 

On  macadamized  roads  where  horse  machines  are  not  used, 
and  where  the  expense  can  be  incurred  of  keeping  two  or  more 
men  at  work  on  one  section,  hand  machines  are  the  most  eco- 
nomical. The  writer  has  not,  however,  seen  any  such  machines 
in  use  in  America ;  they  work  best  when  the  mud  is  not  so 
liquid  as  to  spread  too  much  when  gathered  into  small  heaps, 
nor  too  stiff  to  scrape  up  easily  and  efficiently. 

These  scrapers  are  used  by  two  men  and  are  about  five  (5) 
feet  wide.  Two  men  with  a  scraper  can  clean  more  road  surface 
than  four  men  with  hoes,  as  the  action  of  the  machine  is  con- 
tinuous, whereas  a  hoe  requires  to  move  backward  and  forward 
too  much.  It  is  not  well  to  clean  a  macadam  road  too  closely  or 
to  sweep  it  too  clean  either  of  mud  or  dust,  or  the  stones  may 
get  loose  on  the  surface. 

This  statement  should  not  be  considered  contradictory  of 
the  opinion  already  expressed  that  no  earthy  or  fine  material 
should  be  used  for  blinding,  since  the  blinding  is  put  on  loose 
stone,  and  would  work  down  through  the  mass  when  rolled ; 
whereas,  a  thin  coat  of  mud  or  dust  only  covers  the  surface  after 
the  mass  is  made  compact. 

The  irregularity  of  the  surface  of  the  stones  will,  however, 
generally  retain  enough  binding  material  for  the  surface  ;  if  any 
more  mud  than  this  be  allowed  to  remain,  it  not  only  makes 
travel  more  difficult  and  soils  everything  passing  over  the  road, 
but  also  helps,  when  liquid  enough,  to  grind  away  the  stones. 

SUBDIVISION  B. — REPAIRING  THE  SURFACE. 

In  the  case  of  roads  paved  with  stone,  brick  or  wood,  or 
coated  with  asphalt,  all  defects  should  be  made  good  as  soon  as 
possible  and  the  surface  kept  even. 

On  macadamized  roads,  before  spreading  the  stones,  all  mud 
should  be  cleaned  off  and  the  surface  should  be  picked  up  a 
little  to  allow  the  new  stone  to  bind  well  into  the  old.  Where 


46  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

a  heavy  roller  can  be  had,  this  picking  may  be  done  by  teeth  or 
spikes  set  into  the  wheels  with  screws ;  the  teeth  should  only 
project  about  two  inches  (2")  from  the  surface  and  be  spaced 
about  five  (5)  or  six  (6)  inches  apart  in  alternating  rows.  The 
spikes  should  on  no  account  be  made  too  long,  or  they  will 
break  up  and  destroy  the  bond  of  the  stones,  which  is  an  essen- 
tial condition  of  a  good  macadam  road. 

The  writer  saw  such  a  roller  some  five  years  ago,  with 
spikes  about  six  (6)  inches  long,  which  completely  broke  up  the 
road  surface  and  left  it  a  yielding  mass  of  stones  and  mud.  Of 
course,  macadam  laid  on  this  and  well  rolled  would  bind  into  the 
old  soft  surface  and  look  smooth  and  good,  but  would  not  make 
nearly  so  firm  a  road  as  if  the  old  surface  had  been  only  loosened 
on  the  top.  Had  the  spikes  been  much  shorter  the  roller  would 
have  been  much  more  useful.  The  new  coating  need  not  be 
more  than  three  (3)  inches  thick,  unless  the  surface  has  been 
worn  away  so  much  as  to  require  raising  more  than  the  three 
(3)  inches  to  bring  it  to  the  proper  grade. 

If  less  than  the  three  (3)  inches  be  put  on,  the  stones  will 
be  unable  to  bind  together,  as  there  would  then  be  a  layer  of 
new  macadam  only  one  stone  thick.  The  writer  has  recently 
seen  a  specification  for  making  new  roads  in  one  of  the  leading 
New  England  cities,  in  which  it  was  required  to  lay  a  first  coat- 
ing of  four  (4)  inch  stone  only  four  (4)  inches  thick,  to  be  well 
rolled  ;  on  this  a  second  coat  was  to  be  spread  of  two  and  a  half 
(2>£)  inch  stones  only  three  (3)  inches  thick,  which  was  also  to 
be  rolled,  and  the  final  coating  was  to  be  of  one  (i)  inch  stone 
only  one  (i)  inch  thick.  The  writer  does  not  see  how  these 
successive  coats  would  bind  well  together  when  only  one  (i) 
stone  thick  each  ;  the  two  upper  coatings  would  have  bonded 
together  better  had  the  second  rolling  been  omitted.  In  ful- 
filling the  contract,  however,  it  is  probable  that  the  several 
layers  were  about  two  (2)  inches  thicker  than  the  specification 
called  for,  as  it  is  not  easy  to  spread  a  one-stone  layer. 

The  stones  when  laid  in  large  sections  at  a  time,  as  is  usual 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  47 

in  towns,  should  be  blinded  with  clean  screenings,  watered  and 
well  rolled. 

On  country  roads,  where  the  traffic  is  not  very  heavy,  the 
stone  should  be  put  on  in  patches,  laid  in  such  a  manner  as  that 
the  traffic  should  come  on  them  gradually  from  the  side ;  these 
patches  may  vary  from  ten  (10)  to  sixty  (60)  feet  long  and  from 
three  (3)  to  six  (6)  feet  wide ;  on  a  narrow  road  the  lesser  width 
is  sufficient.  No  road  scrapings  should  on  any  account  be  put  on 
the  new  stone,  as  it  will  prevent  it  from  binding,  and  the  result 
will  be  a  yielding  and  uneven  surface. 

The  writer  has  fully  tried  this  question  of  blinding  on  one 
of  the  roads  under  his  charge  which  was  subject  to  a  very  heavy 
traffic  from  quarries.  The  road  in  question  had  a  considerable 
grade  down  toward  town,  and  carts  with  about  three  thousand 
(3000)  pounds  of  stone  used  to  come  along  down  the  grade  in 
strings  of  twenty  (20)  at  a  time,  all  in  the  same  track,  and  cut 
up  the  roadway  badly.  The  writer  found  that  the  men  in  charge 
of  the  repairs  used  the  road  scrapings  for  blinding.  Reordered 
them  to  stop  this  practice  altogether,  and  by  careful  watching 
its  use  was  altogether  prevented.  The  result  was  that  in  a  year 
the  roadway  became  firm  and  even,  with  no  more  loose  portions. 
Where  a  roadway  has  become  cut  up  with  ruts,  all  the  loose  stones 
and  mud  should  be  removed  before  the  new  stones  are  spread. 

The  best  time  to  apply  the  stone  is  during  wet  weather  in 
the  Spring  and  Fall. 

During  dry  weather  in  Summer  all  loose  stones  should  be 
cleared  off  the  road  and  used  for  patching  the  surface  or  else 
stored  in  heaps  along  the  roadside  for  future  use. 

Newly-laid  patches  should  be  looked  after,  and  any  loose 
stones  raked  into  place,  and,  if  necessary,  new  patches  laid  to 
divert  the  traffic  so  as  to  gradually  come  on  to  the  new  stones. 

SUBDIVISION  C. — CLEANING  OUT  DRAINS  AND  WATER-TABLES. 

This  should  be  carefully  attended  to.  The  ditches  and 
culverts  should  be  well  cleaned  out  in  the  Spring,  and  all  mud 


43  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

and  refuse  which  may  have  accumulated  during  the  Winter  re- 
moved. In  Northern  localities,  where  snow  lies  for  some  time, 
the  outlets  of  all  ditches  and  culverts  should  be  opened  out 
before  the  Spring  thaw  sets  in.  In  the  Fall  all  weeds  and  grass 
in  the  ditches  should  be  cut,  and  the  culverts  and  ditches  left  in 
good  shape  for  the  Winter. 

At  all  seasons  the  water-tables  should  be  kept  free  of  mud 
and  refuse  of  all  sorts,  in  order  that  the  surface  water  may  be 
able  to  escape  freely  to  the  side  ditches. 

The  road  scrapings  should  not  be  allowed  to  remain  on  the 
sides  of  the  roadway  any  longer  than  necessary,  and  care  should 
be  taken  to  prevent  mud  from  accumulating  along  the  sides  near 
the  water-tables,  as  it  will  prevent  the  surface  water  from  drain- 
ing from  the  centre  of  the  roadway. 

CLEANING    DITCHES. 

The  time  spent  in  attending  to  the  drainage  of  the  road 
should  not  be  grudged,  as  a  dry  roadbed  is  more  cheaply  kept  in 
good  order  than  one  that  is  always  wet. 

PRICES. 

The  following  are  approximate  prices  for  various  works  and 
materials  in  connection  with  roads.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  prices  vary  considerably,  both  on  account  of  the 
cost  of  labor  and  supplies  varying  in  different  localities,  and 
from  differences  in  the  amount  of  competition  among  the  con- 
tractors who  may  tender  for  works. 

Excavation,  per  cubic  yard $0.15  to  $0.30 

Rock  excavation,  per  cubic  yard. i.oo  to    2.50 

French  drains,  three-inch  tile  and  stone,  without  ) 

,.       ,  [     -22  to      .30 

excavation,  per  lineal  yard,  ) 

Macadam,  with  Telford  foundation,  per  square  > 

[     .90  to    1.40 
yard,  > 

Concrete  foundation — one  of  cement ;  three  of  \ 
*and,  and  four  and  a  half  of  two  and  a  half  >•      .9610    1.20 
inch  stone,  six  inches  thick,  per  square  yard,     ' 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  49 

Granite  blocks,  supplied  only,  per  square  yard,       1.50  to    1.90 

Granite  blocks,  supplied  and  laid  (Scotch),  per  ) 

[    2.94  to    3.25 
square  yard, 

Syenite  blocks  from  locality,  supplied  and  laid, ) 

[    2.75  to    3.10 
per  square  yard, 

Wooden  blocks,   supplied  and   laid,  per  square ) 

[      .95  to     1.25 
yard, 

Granite  blocks  on  sand,  including  sand  and  lay- ) 

[    3.00  to    3.40 
ing,  per  square  yard,  ) 

Granite   blocks,   including   concrete  foundation ) 

,.-•  .  ,  [    3-10  to    4.50 

and  laying,  per  square  yard, 

Asphalt,   per  square    yard,   including  concrete 


foundation, 

Red  cedar  on  sand,  including  sand,  per  square  ) 

[   2.00  to    2.40 
yard,  ) 

Cedar  and  pine  blocks,  on  concrete  included,  per  | 
square,  yard,  > 

Wooden  blocks,  including  concrete  foundation  | 
and  excavating  old  roadway,  per  square  yard,  1 

Brick  on  concrete,  including  concrete,  per  square  ) 

[    2.05  to    2.50 
yard, 

Brick  on  sand,  including  sand,  per  square  yard,       i.ooto    1.50 
Brick,  two  layers  on  sand,  including  the  sand 


1.25  to    2.00 
per  square  yard, 

Repairs  to  wooden  blocks  per  annum,  per  square  ^ 
yard,  > 

Repairs  to  macadam  and  cleaning  per   annum,  | 
per  square  yard,  for  light  traffic,  ) 

Ditto,  for  heavy  traffic,  .20  to      .40 

The  writer  has  recently  seen  the  results  of  investigations 
made  by  Mr.  Rudolphe  Hering,  as  to  the  cost  per  square  yard  of 
block  stone,  asphalt  and  wooden  blocks  laid  on  concrete,  for  a 
period  of  fifteen  years,  including  the  first  cost  and  interest  on 
same,  and  repairs,  with  cleaning,  in  London,  Paris,  Vienna  and 
New  York. 
4 


50  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

These  results  are  given  in  a  table,  as  follows  : 

MAINTENANCE 
MATERIAL.     CONSTRUCTION.   FOR  1 5  YEARS.   TOTAL. 

Block  stone,  $4.00  $1.05  $5.05 

Asphalt,  3.65  2.25  5.90 

Wood,  3.40  3.16  6.56 

From  this  table,  it  appears  that  block  stone  is  cheaper  in 

the  long  run  than  either  asphalt  or  wood,  and  that  asphalt  is  also 

really  cheaper  than  wood. 

DIVISION    No.    2. ECONOMIC    FEATURES. 

There  is  nothing  strikes  a  European  more,  on  his  arrival  in 
North  America,  than  the  excellence  of  the'  railroads  and  the 
inferiority  of  the  roads. 

This  inferiority  may  partly  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  rich, 
both  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  almost  invariably  live  in 
the  cities,  where  the  roads  are  better  kept  up,  or  else  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  towns  which  they  can  reach  by  rail. 

The  country  roads  seem  to  be  principally  used  by  farmers, 
to  whom  time  seems  to  be  no  object,  and  who  do  not  apparently 
realize  that  good  roads  can  be  profitable,  since  they  do  not  actu- 
ally place  dollar  bills  in  their  hands,  and  who  seem  to  think  that 
the  only  way  to  increase  their  income  is  to  sell  more  produce, 
no  matter  how  much  it  may  cost  to  draw  it  into  market,  and 
accordingly  they  spend  a  great  part  of  their  lives  slowly  plod- 
ding over  bad  roads  without  a  thought  of  trying  to  improve 
them. 

The  writer  has  recently  seen  an  account  of  investigations 
made  by  Captain  D.  Torrey  as  to  the  extra  cost  of  bad  roads  in 
wear  and  tear  of  vehicles  and  harness,  the  result  being  that  he 
estimates  it  at  one  (i)  cent  per  mile  per  vehicle  over  what  it 
would  be  on  proper  roads. 

The  principal  advantages  of  good  roads  are  that  larger  loads 
can  be  carried  with  greater  speed,  that  farmers  can  market  their 
produce  at  whatever  time  they  can  get  the  best  prices,  without 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  51 

being  dependent  on  the  weather,  and  that  they  can  also  use  the 
roads  in  wet  weather  during  the  Winter  and  Spring,  when  they 
cannot  plough,  thus  utilizing  their  horses  when  they  would 
otherwise  be  idle. 

In  general,  good  roads  practically  shorten  distances,  encour- 
age intercommunication  between  town  and  country,  benefit  trade, 
enhance  the  value  of  all  adjacent  properties,  and  effect  a  large 
saving  in  money  uselessly  expended  in  hauling  materials  over 
bad  roads. 

The  following  table  gives  the  approximate  percentages  which 
can  be  drawn  on  the  level  over  various  descriptions  of  roads  as 
compared  with  what  can  be  drawn  on  an  iron  track,  viz : 

On  an  iron  track 100  per  cent. 

On  a  good  stone  trackway 64         " 

On  asphalt 60        " 

On  best  blockstone 30        " 

On  common  block  stone 20        u 

On  good  Telford-macadam 18        " 

On  common  macadam 13         " 

On  cobble-stone 10        " 

On  gravel  over  earth 5)4     " 

From  the  above  it  appears  that  a  horse  can  draw  on  a  com- 
mon macadamized  road  more  than  twice  as  much,  and  on  a  good 
solid  Telford-macadam  road  more  than  three  times  as  much  as 
he  could  on  a  gravel  road.  Therefore,  a  farmer  who  might  send 
produce  into  market  for  two  hundred  (200)  days  in  the  year, 
using  a  pair  of  horses  to  draw  a  load  of  about  a  ton  on  a  poor 
gravel  road,  could,  if  the  road  were  well  macadamized,  dispense 
with  one  of  the  horses.  Supposing  that  the  horse  cost  him  forty 
(40)  cents  per  day,  including  interest  on  first  cost,  he  would 
save  on  this  single  item  eighty  dollars  ($80)  per  annum. 

The  resistance  due  to  grades,  as  alluded  to  already  in  Divi- 
sion No.  I,  really  varies  as  the  sine  of  the  angle  of  inclination, 
but  for  grades  of  one  in  twenty  (i  in  20),  or  flatter,  it  practically 
varies  as  the  tangent  of  the  angle.  Thus,  for  example,  on  a 


52  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

grade  of  one  in  twenty  (I  in  20)  the  resistance  due  to  gravity  is 
practically  one-twentieth  (J^)  of  the  entire  road. 

On  a  good  macadamized  road  where  the  resistance  to  trac- 
tion on  the  level  is,  say,  one-fortieth  (^)  of  the  load,  a  grade  of 
one  in  twenty  (i  in  20)  will  increase  this  resistance  by  one- 
twentieth  (•£$*)  of  the  load,  the  total  resistance  then  being  three- 
fortieths  (T3V)  of  the  load ;  therefore,  a  grade  of  one  in  twenty 
(l  in  20),  if  of  considerable  length,  will  considerably  reduce  the 
amount  which  a  horse  can  draw  over  it,  hence  it  is  false  economy 
to  put  a  road  into  first-class  condition,  and  yet  leave  on  it  a  hill 
with  a  grade  which  practically  destroys  a  great  part  of  the 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  excellence  of  the  roadway. 

Since  good  roads  virtually  shorten  distances  and  render 
travel  cover  them  much  pleasanter,  they  make  property  through 
which  they  pass  much  more  valuable,  especially  in  the  vicinity 
of  towns,  w'here  many  would  live  further  out  in  the  country  were 
the  roads  kept  in  good  order. 

There  are  also  many  cases  where  farmers  could  bring  two 
loads  per  day  into  town  if  the  bad  condition  of  the  roads  did  not 
prevent  them. 

Besides  this,  the  continued  jolting  of  heavy  vehicles  over 
rough  and  badly-kept  roads  strains  the  horses  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  shorten  their  lives,  and  to  develop  in  them  such  diseases 
as  often  render  them  unfit  for  heavy  work. 

Engineering  News  of  22d  of  February,  1890,  publishes  a 
statement  made  by  Captain  Brown,  manager  of  Hollywood  truck 
farm,  in  Virginia,  to  the  effect  that  a  pair  of  horses  can  draw 
fifty-five  (55)  barrels  of  produce  over  the  roads  on  that  farm, 
which  are  in  excellent  condition,  whereas,  on  the  ordinary  coun- 
try roads  they  can  only  draw  twelve  (12)  barrels. 

Such  country  roads  must  entail  enormous  unnecessary  ex- 
pense to  the  farmers  who  have  to  use  them. 

The  mud  and  rough  surface  of  bad  roads  also  tend  to 
destroy  the  wheels  and  framework  of  vehicles,  and  to  break  the 
springs  and  bolts. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  53 

Again,  in  dry  weather  the  dust  of  badly-kept  roads  is  very 
annoying,  destroys  clothes,  and  tends  to  prevent  people  from 
travelling. 

The  fact  that  people  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  insist  on 
having  such  first-class  railway  accommodation,  and  yet  put  up 
with  such  bad  roads,  has  always  been  a  mystery  to  the  writer. 

In  towns,  good  roads  increase  the  renting  value  of  adjoin- 
ing buildings  very  largely,  as  the  traffic  always  follows  the  best 
roads,  and  it  is  in  this  connection  that  asphalt  proves  superior 
to  all  other  pavements,  as  it  is  so  free  from  noise  and  mud. 
Stone-block  pavement  should  not  be  used  on  business  streets, 
but  kept  for  those  where  the  noise  from  factories  is  such  that 
the  extra  noise  from  the  pavement  is  of  no  consequence. 

The  waste  of  gravel  and  broken  stone  on  a  bad  foundation, 
or  on  no  foundation  at  all,  should  also  be  alluded  to  in  this 
section. 

Frequently,  large  quantities  of  macadam  or  gravel,  costing 
large  sums  of  money,  are  spread  in  any  sort  of  way  on  an  eneven, 
dirty  and  uncompacted  roadway,  and  then  left  to  be  scattered 
all  over  the  road,  part  being  mixed  with  the  mud,  and  eventually 
carted  off  the  road,  part  gradually  worked  over  to  the  edges  of 
the  road,  where  it  prevents  the  water  from  draining  off  the  sur- 
face properly,  and  the  remainder  driven  into  the  roadbed  in  a 
useless  and  uncompacted  state. 

The  New  York  Times  last  year  reported  that  the  land  owners 
in  New  Jersey  are  very  well  pleased  with  their  new  roads,  even 
those  who  opposed  them  on  account  of  their  cost  being  well  sat- 
isfied. 

In  concluding  this  division  the  writer  will  quote  from  a 
statement  from  Professor  J.  W.  Jenks'  "  Road  Legislation  for 
the  American  State,"  as  published  in  Engineering  News.  The 
Professor  states  that  "  In  Illinois  it  is  found  that  a  full  load 
can  be  carried  on  the  State  roads  only  three  months  during  the 
year  ;  two-thirds  of  a  load  three  months,  and  half  a  load  six 
months.  Good  dirt  roads  there  would  reduce  the  cost  of  hauling 


54  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

one-half,  and  good  permanent  macadamized  roads  three-fourths. 
The  defective  highways  the  State  now  possesses  cost  it  an  extra 
$15,346,320  for  hauling,  and  depreciate  the  value  of  its  farms 
$160,000,000." 

DIVISION    No.    3. — LEGISLATIVE   FEATURES. 

The  district  in  which  the  writer  had  charge  as  assistant- 
engineer  of  the  roads  and  bridges  formed  part  of  a  county 
which  occupied  about  eight  hundred  (800)  square  miles.  A 
county  engineer,  eight  assistants  and  a  clerk  formed  the  engi- 
neering staff. 

The  assistants  drew  up  half-yearly  estimates  of  the  cost  of 
making  new  and  repairing  existing  roads  and  bridges  ;  these 
were  inspected  by  the  county  engineer,  and,  after  his  approval, 
were  submitted,  with  the  tenders  for  their  execution,  to  the  rate 
payers  of  the  various  baronies,  of  which  there  were  about  twelve 
(12)  in  the  county. 

The  tenders  were  called  for  by  advertisement  in  certain 
newspapers. 

The  various  contracts  as  then  passed  were  brought  before 
the  grand  jury  (whose  duties,  in  this  respect,  might,  in  America, 
be  performed  by  the  county  council),  and  the  various  works  and 
contracts  passed  by  them  were  carried  out.  In  cases  where  no 
satisfactory  tender  was  given  in  for  a  necessary  work  the  county 
engineer  was  entrusted  with  it  and  had  it  carried  out  in  his 
name. 

The  county  engineer  had  power  to  grant  such  amounts  on 
the  various  contracts  as  had  actually  been  earned.  The  con- 
tracts were  usually  let  for  a  period  of  three  (3)  years,  but  when 
favorable  prices  could  not  be  obtained  they  only  ran  for  one  (i) 
year. 

These  contracts,  which  were  often  taken  by  farmers, 
included,  in  the  case  of  repairs  and  maintenance,  stone  delivered 
at  the  regular  stone  depots  along  the  roads  and  there  broken  by 
hand,  as  well  as  the  spreading  of  the  stone  and  the  necessary 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  55 

cleanings  ;  but  in  the  case  of  roads  on  which  there  was  much 
traffic  it  also  included  the  pay  of  a  certain  number  of  men  who 
were  to  be  employed  for  a  specific  number  of  days  in  each  week 
in  cleaning  and  spreading  stone. 

Where  machines  for  breaking  the  stone  are  used  they  are 
worked  at  the  quarry. 

The  cost  of  the  maintenance  of  the  public  roads  in  and 
adjoining  the  largest  towns  was  met  half  by  the  barony  and  half 
by  the  town  ;  the  maintenance  of  all  other  roads  in  the  barony 
was  paid  for  by  the  barony. 

The  cost  of  new  roads  and  bridges  was  borne  half  by  the 
county  at  large  and  half  by  the  barony  in  which  the  work  was 
situated,  and  each  barony  paid  its  own  proper  rate  of  taxation. 

Under  this  system,  which  worked  very  smoothly,  the  taxes 
were  evenly  distributed,  and  the  whole  of  the  county  roads 
being  under  the  control  of  an  able  and  trustworthy  engineer, 
there  was  a  proper  uniformity  in  the  system  of  making  and 
maintaining  all  roads  and  bridges  and  in  the  keeping  of  the 
accounts. 

Legislation  with  a  view  of  improving  roads  should  give  to  a 
county  council,  or,  if  the  county  prove  too  small,  to  a  council 
elected  by  two  or  three  counties  together,  power  to  take  all 
public  roads  and  road  bridges  under  its  control ;  to  abolish  all 
toll  gates  whether  on  roads  or  bridges  ;  to  compensate  the  owners 
of  such  toll  roads  and  bridges  for  taking  possession  of  them, 
with  the  proviso  that  the  amount  of  compensation  may  be  fixed 
by  three  arbitrators  and  be  subject  to  ratification  by  the  courts; 
to  appoint  a  county  engineer,  assistant  engineers  and  clerks, 
whose  tenure  of  office  should  be  permanent,  and  should  only  be 
terminable  by  death,  superannuation  or  their  proving  unfit  for 
office,  either  through  incapacity,  negligence  or  misconduct ; 
to  fix  the  salary  of  such  officers ;  to  decide  what  works  shall  be 
paid  for,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  the  county  at  large,  and 
to  decide  what  proportion  of  the  total  cost  shall  be  so  paid  for  ; 
to  determine  what  works  shall  be  paid  for  entirely  by  the  various 


56  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

sub-divisions  of  the  county,  whether  they  be  townships  or 
parishes ;  to  arrange  how  many  of  such  sub-divisions  should  be 
grouped  together  for  taxation  purposes  ;  to  arrange  with  all 
towns  which  have  roads  under  their  control  the  amount  to  be 
paid  by  them  toward  keeping  up  the  county  roads  ;  to  impose 
taxation  for  county  roads  and  bridges,  which  should  be  limited 
to  a  rate  to  be  fixed  by  the  State ;  to  cause  said  taxes  to  be  col- 
lected by  the  county  treasurer  and  kept  by  him  for  payment  of 
accounts  ;  to  examine  the  tenders  submitted  by  the  county  engi- 
neer for  all  works,  and  to  ratify  all  contracts  for  county  work  on 
roads  and  bridges  or  for  the  supply  of  stationery  and  printing ; 
to  decide  on  the  making  of  new  and  the  reconstruction  or  repair 
of  existing  county  roads  and  bridges,  and  other  minor  works  ;  to 
attend  to  all  petitions  for  or  against  the  opening  of  new  roads 
or  for  the  execution  of  various  works  which  may  come  under 
their  control ;  to  acquire  all  lands  necessary  for  the  opening  of 
new  or  the  widening  of  existing  roads  ;  to  sell  or  otherwise  dis- 
pose of  any  abandoned  roads  or  portions  of  roads ;  to  compel 
property  owners  along  county  roads  to  keep  their  fences  along 
the  roads  in  proper  repair,  and  also  to  keep  their  ditches  in  such 
repair  and  at  such  grades  as  shall  permit  of  the  proper  drainage 
of  the  roads  ;  and  to  fix  the  time  and  place  of  their  meeting, 
which  should  be  at  least  held  once  a  year,  and  of  which  due 
notice  should  be  given. 

DUTIES  OF  COUNTY  ENGINEER. 

The  county  engineer  should  have  control  of  all  his  assist- 
ants and  clerks,  with  power  to  dismiss  them  for  misconduct : 
should  have  all  necessary  contracts  and  specifications  drawn  up  ; 
should  keep  a  road  map  of  the  county,  showing  its  various  subdi- 
visions for  taxation  purposes,  and  all  roads  and  bridges,  each 
road  being  properly  numbered ;  should  have  plans  and  profiles 
of  all  roads,  also  plans  and  sections  of  all  bridges  and  large  cul- 
verts. He  should  have  a  set  of  books  showing  the  nature  and 
amount  of  work  to  be  done  on  each  section  of  a  road,  according 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  57 

to  its  name,  map,  number  or  other  designation,  together  with  the 
contractor's  name  and  the  amount  paid  annually  or  half  yearly 
for  each  description  of  work. 

He  should  certify  all  amounts  to  be  paid  to  contractors  ; 
report  annually  to  the  council  on  all  work  done  under  his  con- 
trol during  the  year,  showing  the  amounts  paid  for  each  work, 
and  giving  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  all  roads  and  bridges, 
together  with  any  information  which  may  show  the  advantages 
of  the  works  executed. 

He  should  also  prepare  estimates  of  work  to  be  done  each 
year,  showing  the  proportions  to  be  paid  by  each  subdivision  of 
the  county  and  by  the  county  at  large,  and  also  the  unexpended 
balances  on  any  contracts  which  may  remain  over  to  the  credit 
of  the  various  subdivisions  of  the  county  or  to  the  credit  of 
the  county  at  large.  He  should  also  see  to  the  advertisement 
for  tenders  of  all  works  under  his  charge. 

DUTIES    OF    ASSISTANT    ENGINEERS. 

The  assistant  engineers  should  personally  attend  to  the. exe- 
cution of  all  works  within  their  districts,  measure  up  all  stone  or 
other  material  supplied,  estimate  as  closely  as  possible  the 
amount  of  macadam  on  hand  at  the  end  of  each  year,  report  on 
how  much  shall  be  required  on  each  section  for  the  ensuing 
year,  attend  closely  to  the  manner  in  which  the  various  contract- 
ors execute  their  work,  instruct  the  men  under  them  in  the  per- 
formance of  their  duties,  see  that  the  roads  are  not  encroached 
on  or  interfered  with,  except  on  permission  from  the  county 
engineer  in  writing,  assist  the  county  engineer  in  making  sur- 
veys, taking  levels  and  preparing  plans,  profiles  and  estimates, 
and  furnish  the  county  engineer  with  the  data  necessary  for 
drawing  up  his  annual  report. 

POWER  TO  ENTER  ON  LAND. 

The  county  engineer  and  his  assistants  should  be  empow- 
ered by  law  to  enter  on  and  traverse  the  property  of  any  person 
whatever,  when  it  may  be  necessary  to  do  so  for  the  purpose  of 


58  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

surveying  or  taking  levels  on  the  route  or  proposed  route  of  a 
new  road  or  drain,  provided  that  they  do  no  damage  to  such 
lands  or  pay  for  any  necessary  damage, 

CONVICTS    ON    ROADS. 

It  would  be  well  if  provision  could  be  made  for  the  employ- 
ment of  convicts  in  repairing  and  cleaning  the  county  roads  or 
in  breaking  stone  at  the  county  jails  :  their  performing  these 
works  would  interfere  very  little  with  the  various  trades  unions 
which  cry  out  so  much  against  the  work  done  by  convicts. 

It  would  be  well,  also,  to  give  the  county  council  power  to 
remit  a  certain  proportion  of  taxes  to  those  who  use  vehicles 
with  wide  tires  on  the  wheels,  as  they  do  much  less  damage  to 
the  roadway  than  narrow  tires. 

Power  should  also  be  given  to  the  county  council,  under 
restrictions,  to  borrow  money  for  the  making  of  new  roads  or 
bridges. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


SECOND  PRIZE  PAPER.     No.  35. 

BY 

DAVID  H.  BERGEY,  B.  Sc.,  M.D., 

North  Wales,  Pa. 


I. — GENERAL    CONSIDERATIONS    OF   THE   SUBJECT. 

Condition  of  the  Roads  under  the  Present  System. — The 
public  roads  of  Pennsylvania  are  in  a  deplorable  state.  This  is 
their  general  condition,  but  the  present  Winter  has  been  so  unu- 
sually wet  and  mild  that  they  are  extremely  bad  at  the  present 
time.  It  was  impossible  to  keep  earth  or  dirt  roads  in  repair 
under  the  conditions  of  weather  which  prevailed  during  the 
past  Winter.  Some  roads  required  constant  repairing  to  keep 
them  even  in  a  passable  condition,  and  without  which  they 
would  have  been  altogether  impassable.  This  has,  of  course, 
been  largely  due  to  the  wet  season,  yet  it  shows  very  forcibly 
how  unprofitable  and  unsatisfactory  is  the  present  system  of 
road  making.  The  need  of  reform  is  clearly  patent,  and  reform 
is  inevitable.  There  is  certainly  plenty  of  room  for  improve- 
ment. 

The  present  system  of  road  making  by  plowing  up  the 
ground  along  the  side  of  the  roadway  and  scraping  it  into  the 
middle  of  the  road  is  a  vast  improvement  upon  the  older 
system  of  having  the  ground  shoveled  out  by  a  gang  of  men. 
It  is  superior  in  its  engineering  and  economic  features.  It 
saves  a  great  outlay  of  money,  time  and  labor,  and  makes  a 
roadway  far  more  passable  than  under  the  old  system. 

59 


60  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Objections  to  the  Present  System. — This  system  is  objection- 
able, however,  on  account  of  the  infirm  condition  of  the 
roadbed  in  wet  weather,  when  the  roads  are  often  almost  im- 
passable, and  on  account  of  their  roughness  in  Winter,  freezing 
and  thawing  at  intervals,  thus  becoming  highly  injurious  to 
teams.  The  wear  and  tear  of  our  roads  during  the  Winter  is 
enormous,  and  it  is,  consequently,  highly  necessary  that  we 
should  have  some  reform  in  this  matter.  Thousands  of  dollars 
are  annually  squandered  in  Pennsylvania  in  so-called  road 
improvements,  and  yet  these  improvements  are  only  temporary 
ones,  and  must  be  repeated  from  year  to  year. 

Conditions  Operating  in  Retaining  It. — Our  present  road 
law,  and  the  system  of  working  the  roads  under  it,  was,  no 
doubt,  the  best  that  could  be  devised  at  the  time  it  was  formu- 
lated— at  least,  under  the  conditions  existing  then  ;  but  we  have 
outgrown  its  usefulness,  and  must,  therefore,  adopt  a  better  and 
more  economic  system.  A  number  of  conditions  operated  in 
retaining  the  present  crude  and  imperfect  system  so  long.  The 
rapid  extension  of  railroads,  and  the  facilities  for  intercourse 
and  shipment  of  products  which  they  afforded,  operated  largely 
in  retaining  it.  The  use  of  the  navigable  streams  and  the 
cheapness  of  water  carriage  was  also  an  important  factor.  The 
use  and  extension  of  the  toll  roads,  or  turnpike  system,  afford- 
ing better  means  of  transportation  on  some  of  the  principal 
lines  of  travel,  also  operated  in  favor  of  retaining  the  present 
system.  Besides,  the  nature  of  the  system  itself,  and  the  char- 
acter and  abilities  of  the  men  operating  it,  made  improvements 
Out  of  the  question.  The  supervisors  under  the  present  sys- 
tem, with  rare  exceptions,  were  not  trained  engineers,  and 
therefore  unable  to  formulate  remedies  for  the  defects  of  the 
system.  The  elective  system  of  choosing  the  supervisors  is 
therefore  undesirable,  because  rarely  are  competent  persons 
chosen  by  that  method.  Another  cause  which  operated  more 
than  anything  else  in  retaining  the  present  system  was  the  fear, 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  61 

on  the  part  of  the  taxpayers,  that  any  reform  that  might  be 
instituted  would  increase  the  taxes,  and  thus  increase  their 
burdens,  and  no  reform  will  be  likely  to  meet  with  their  appro- 
val that  threatens  to  increase  the  taxes.  They  must  be  edu- 
cated to  understand  the  value  of  the  reforms  to  be  instituted. 
They  must  be  brought  to  see  that  improved  roads  will  increase 
the  value  of  real  estate,  that  the  value  of  farm  products  will  be 
raised  thereby,  that  the  price  of  commodities  will  be  reduced, 
and  that  their  social  condition  will  be  greatly  improved.  Unless 
taxpayers  can  be  brought  to  see  these  things,  they  will  object 
to  the  adoption  of  any  reform  that  will  be  likely  to  put  any 
greater  burden  upon  them,  even  for  a  short  time.  The  strong- 
est objections  will,  no  doubt,  come  from  the  agricultural  dis- 
tricts, and  yet  they  will  be  gainers  rather  than  losers  thereby. 
The  lot  of  the  agriculturist  is  a  hard  one,  as  evidenced  by  the 
exceedingly  large  number  of  farms  which  come  into  the  sheriff's 
hands  every  year,  and  it  is  important  that  nothing  shall  be 
done  which  will  increase  the  hardness  of  their  lot.  We  are  all 
dependent  upon  the  farmer,  and  it  behooves  us  to  foster  and 
protect  his  calling  as  much  as  possible.  The  gain  from  improved 
roads  would  largely  come  to  the  farmer,  in  that  the  cost  of  trans- 
porting his  farm  products  to  market  is  greatly  reduced,  because 
he  saves  largely  in  time  and  labor.  They  benefit  the  farmer,  at 
least  primarily,  though,  secondarily,  the  towns  serving  as  a 
market  centre  are  also  benefited,  and  should  pay  their  share 
toward  the  improvement  and  maintenance  of  public  roads. 

Objections  to  Toll  Roads. — Toll  roads  or  turnpikes  may  be 
considered  in  the  light  of  monopolies.  They  were  undoubtedly 
of  great  importance  formerly,  but  their  usefulness  will  be 
greatly  lessened  by  macadamizing  other  roads.  They  are  more 
frequently  in  a  bad  condition  than  otherwise,  and  when  this  is 
the  case  the  collection  of  tolls  is  robbery.  The  law  requires 
their  vacation  if  not  properly  repaired,  but  it  is  seldom  done. 
They  earn,  usually,  a  large  dividend  for  the  stockholders,  as,  for 


62  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

instance,  the  Perkiomen  and  Sumneytown  Turnpike  Company, 
of  Montgomery  County,  voted  a  dividend  of  7  per  cent,  to  its 
stockholders  last  month.  Any  public  enterprise  that  pays  a 
dividend  exceeding  the  legal  rate  of  interest  appropriates  its 
earnings  in  an  unfair  manner. 

They  are  also  unfair  in  that  they  tax  the  traveling  public 
alone,  while  they  are  not  the  only  ones  benefited  by  them. 
They  benefit  the  towns  to  which  they  extend  and  the  farms 
adjacent  to  the  line.  It  is,  therefore,  unfair  to  tax  the  traveling 
public  alone,  and  the  tolls  on  turnpikes  are  an  outrageous  bur- 
den upon  them.  If  they  were  properly  repaired  they  would  not 
be  quite  so  objectionable,  but  they  are  generally  in  a  wretched 
condition,  and  hence  the  tolls  are  a  real  burden.  The  traveling 
public  pays  road  tax  for  the  maintenance  of  the  public  roads, 
and  therefore  they  have  a  right  to  expect  them  to  be  kept  in 
proper  repair  for  travel.  They  are,  therefore,  an  extra  burden 
on  the  taxpayers,  and  frequently  on  those  who  pay  most  toward 
maintaining  the  public  roads. 

In  1857-58  Ireland  freed  itself  from  toll-gates  ;  Scotland, 
from  1878-83,  and  England  will  also  be  freed  before  long.  We 
trust  Pennsylvania  will  follow  their  example. 

On  these  considerations  turnpike  roads  should  be  abolished 
and  their  property  revert  to  the  State  and  county.  Where  com- 
panies do  not  vacate  voluntarily  the  State  should  claim  them  by 
right  of  eminent  domain.  The  stockholders  should,  of  course, 
receive  just  compensation  for  their  stock.  They  should  be  pur- 
chased at  an  appraised  valuation.  The  township  and  county 
authorities  can  maintain  them  better  than  the  companies  and  to 
greater  satisfaction. 

Value  of  Different  Kinds  of  Roadway. — The  following  table 
from  "  Practical  Treatise  on  Roads,  Streets  and  Pavemenfs,"  by 
Q.  A.  Gillmore,1  gives  tests  made  with  a  dynamometer  attached 
to  a  wagon  moving  slowly  on  the  level,  and  gives  the  force  of 

1  Quoted  by  Professor  Jenks. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  63 

traction  in  pounds,  with  the  different  roads  in  fair  condition. 
The  weight  of  the  wagon  and  load  was  2240  pounds  : 

POUNDS. 

1.  On  best  stone  trackway,      I2^ 

2.  On  a  good  plank  roac1      32  to  50 

3.  On  a  cubical  block  pavement, 32  to  33 

4.  On  macadamized  road  of  broken  stone, 65 

5.  On  Telford  road  (six  inches  of  broken  stone  of  great  hardness 

on  a  foundation  of  large  stones  set  as  a  pavement),     ...  46 

6.  On  road  with  six  inches  of  broken  stone  on  concrete  pavement,  46 

7.  On  road  made  of  thick  coating  of  gravel  laid  on  earth,  ....  140  to  147 

8.  On  a  common  earth  road, 200 

The  comparisons  of  the  different  kinds  of  roadway  in  the 
following  table  are  taken  from  a  paper  on  "  Resistance  to  Trac- 
tion on  Roads,"  by  Rudolph  Hering,1  with  the  calculations  of 
the  force  of  traction  required  on  each  kind  of  road  added  for 
comparison  with  the  foregoing  table. 

From  the  tables  we  learn  that  a  team  can  draw  more 
than  four  times  as  much  on  a  Telford  road  and  allied  systems 
than  on  common  earth  roads  in  good  condition.  This  shows 
the  enormous  waste  of  time  and  draft  occasioned  by  the  present 
system.  In  a  paper  on  "  Road  Drainage,"  by  Thomas  Mac- 
Clanahan,  of  Monmouth,  III,  the  estimate  is  made  that  for  one- 
fourth  of  a  year  a  good  load  can  be  hauled  ;  for  another  fourth 
two-thirds  as  much  ;  and  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  only  half 
a  load,  or  only  two-thirds  of  a  load  on  an  average  throughout 
the  year. 

Systems  of  Construction  Suitable  for  Adoption. — The  only 
systems  of  road  construction  which  offer  no  great  objectionable 
features  are  the  Telford  and  Macadam  systems.  From  the  fore- 
going table  a  force  of  sixty-five  pounds  is  required  in  the  macadam 
system  and  forty-six  pounds  in  the  Telford  system  to  draw  2240 
pounds.  From  our  knowledge  of  the  macadam  system  we  would 
infer  that  the  test  was  not  made  on  a  first-class  macadam,  as  it 
seems  to  us  that,  if  properly  constructed,  it  should  offer  no 

1  Engineering  and  Building  Record,  Jan.  25th,  1890. 


64 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


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ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  65 

more;  resistance  to  wheels  than  the  Telford  system.  We,  there- 
fore, feel  safe  in  saying  that  in  respect  to  surface  resistance  the 
conditions  are  the  same  in  both  cases.  These  statements  are 
also  substantiated  by  the  second  table,  where  the  force  of  trac- 
tion on  the  "  best  macadam  "  is  recorded  as  ranging  from  thirty- 
two  to  sixty-four  pounds.  These  two  systems  recommend  them- 
selves for  consideration  on  account  of  their  firmness,  smooth- 
ness, durability  and  comparative  cheapness  of  construction  and 
maintenance. 

Grading  of  Public  Roads. — Wherever  practicable,  no  road 
should  have  a  grade  much  exceeding  I  in  44,  or  120  feet  to  the 
mile.1  On  such  a  slope  a  horse  can  draw  only  three-fourth  as 
much  as  on  level  ground.  It  is  safe  to  trot  a  horse  down  hill 
on  macadamized  road  of  this  grade.  On  a  slope  of  I  in  24, 
or  220  feet  to  the  mile,  a  horse  can  draw  only  half  a  load,  while 
on  a  slope  of  I  in  10,  or  528  feet  to  the  mile,  only  one-fourths  as 
much  as  on  level  ground  ;  such  grades  should  therefore  be 
avoided,  if  possible.  These  facts  have  been  neglected  in  con- 
structing most  of  our  public  roads,  but  they  are  not  neglected  in 
the  construction  of  railways.  Hills  of  too  large  size  to  be  cut 
through  entirely  should  be  avoided,  or  they  should  be  crossed 
by  a  series  of  inclined  planes  of  easy  grade.  This  is  the  plan 
pursued  by  railway  engineers  in  constructing  railroads  across 
mountain  ranges,  and  should  be  adopted  by  road  engineers  in 
constructing  public  roads. 

For  either  the  Telford  or  macadam  system  the  bed  of  the 
road  should  receive  some  preparation  before  the  work  of  con- 
struction begins.  It  should  be  excavated,  leaving  a  four-inch 
elevation  or  ridge  in  the  middle  and  gradually  slope  toward  the 
edges.  This  saves  some  material  in  the  construction  of  the 
road,  besides  giving  the  roadway  an  arched  contour.  This 
feature  is  a  valuable  one,  especially  in  thin  macadams. 

Not  all  roads  should  be  macadamized,  only  the  principal  ones 

1  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia,  on  "  Roads." 


66  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

leading  from  one  town  to  another,  or,  at  least,  in  the  beginning. 
But  many  are  useless  and  might  be  vacated  without  loss  to 
anyone. 

II. — ADVANTAGES    OF    GOOD    ROADS. 

Good  Roads  an  Advantage  to  Town  and  Country. — Good 
roads  are  not  only  a  benefit  to  the  section  of  country  which  they 
traverse,  but  also  to  the  towns  serving  as  a  market  to  those  sec- 
tions. They  benefit  agricultural  districts,  in  that  they  improve 
the  facilities  for  transporting  the  farm  products  to  the  market 
or  lines  of  commerce,  thus  saving  time  in  transporting  and  in- 
creasing the  amount  of  burden  carried  with  each  load.  In  this 
manner  they  have  a  great  influence  on  the  price  of  commodities. 
The  price  of  wheat  is  increased  for  a  locality  having  improved 
transportation  facilities.  If  it  costs  a  farmer  $1.00  to  haul  100 
bushels  of  wheat  one  mile  on  dirt  roads,  and  by  macadamizing 
the  roads  this  cost  can  be  reduced  to  20  cents  per  mile,  the  price 
of  wheat  is  raised  accordingly  ;  one  mile  saves  80  cents,  ten  miles 
save  $S.oo  per  hundred  bushels,  or  8  cents  per  bushel — the  in- 
crease in  price  of  each  bushel — not  considering  the  larger  load 
that  can  be  carried  on  macadamized  roads.  The  price  of  wheat 
is  thus  permanently  raised  by  improved  facilities  for  transporta- 
tion ;  the  value  of  farm  land  is  also  relatively  increased.  The 
value  of  farms  is  increased  by  the  improved  facilities  for  trans- 
portation of  their  products  in  thus  finding  an  earlier  market. 
As  the  time  needed  to  reach  the  market  is  lessened,  the  farm  is 
brought  relatively  nearer  the  town  and  its  market.  If  improved 
roads  make  the  journey  an  hour  shorter,  the  farm  is,  relatively 
speaking,  brought  an  hour's  journey  nearer  the  market. 

When  farmers  once  see  this  road  problem  in  its  true  light, 
they  will  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  consent  to  higher  taxes,  if 
necessary,  to  bring  about  the  desired  improvements.  They 
have  come  to  look  upon  the  present  condition  of  our  public 
roads  as  a  necessary  inconvenience,  one  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  remedy,  and  must  therefore  be  endured.  They  do  not  realize 
their  loss  in  time  and  labor  in  hauling  their  farm  products  to 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  tf 

the  market.  They  do  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  a  horse  can 
draw  more  than  four  times  as  much  on  macadamized  and  Telf ord 
roads  as  on  ordinary  dirt  roads  in  good  condition,  and  that  this 
is  increased  to  more  than  ten  times  as  much  when  the  dirt  roads 
are  in  bad  condition,  which  they  are  often  for  more  than  half  of 
each  year. 

The  farmer  also  receives  a  similar  benefit  in  the  saving  of 
time  and  draft  in  hauling  coal,  feed  and  other  commodities  from 
the  railroad  and  mill.  The  time  saved  in  hauling  each  load,  and 
the  increased  burden  that  it  is  possible  to  carry,  greatly  reduces 
the  real  cost  of  these  commodities.  In  this  section  of  the  State 
(Montgomery  County)  nearly  every  farmer  sends  his  milk  either 
to  the  creamery  or  to  the  depot,  and  ships  it  to  Philadelphia. 
The  time  lost  in  this  manner  amounts  to  a  considerable  sum 
during  the  year.  If  the  roads  were  macadamized,  this  saving  of 
time  would  represent  that  much  profit  on  the  dairy.  If  the  loss 
of  time  amounts  to  half  an  hour  each  day  for  half  the  year — and 
many  farmers  lose  more — or  ninety  hours  during  the  year,  the  loss 
would  amount  to  $9.00,  since  the  hired  help  of  the  farmer  costs 
him  at  least  ten  cents  an  hour.  The  saving  of  time  on  this  item 
alone  would  go  far  toward  paying  his  road  tax,  and  would  be  so 
much  profit  on  his  dairy. 

Towns  are  benefited  by  improved  roads  in  that  they  increase 
the  scope  of  their  market,  and  therefore  a  larger  area  will  bring 
in  its  products  and  take  away  its  supplies. 

Benefit  to  the  Traveling  Public. — The  general  public,  whether 
traveling  on  foot,  in  carriage,  or  on  horseback  or  bicycle,  would 
also  be  benefited  by  the  great  saving  in  time.  Improved  roads 
may  detract  slightly  from  railroad  passenger  traffic,  because 
pleasure  parties  and  others  might  travel  by  other  means  more 
frequently  than  now,  if  the  roads  were  macadamized, ;  this  would, 
however,  be  a  direct  saving  of  money  to  them  in  most  instances. 

Extend  Educational  Advantages. — We  must  also  consider 
the  enlarged  and  improved  educational  advantages  of  good  roads. 
They  bring  us  into  closer  proximity  to  good  schools,  to  lectures, 


68  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

and  to  churches.  They  facilitate  the  more  general  intercommu- 
nication in  the  rural  districts.  In  the  same  manner  the  moral 
plane  of  a  community  is  elevated  and  civilization  extended. 

Saving  of  Money  to  Communities. — It  is  estimated  that  in 
this  State  $200,000,000  have  been  spent  during  the  last  fifty  years 
in  the  maintenance  of  the  public  road  system.  This  would  be 
at  the  rate  of  $4,000,000  per  year.  This  has  certainly  been  an 
enormous  expense.  The  average  cost  to  maintain  one  mile  of 
macadam  road  is  $10.00  per  year,  while  ordinary  dirt  roads  cost 
from  $30.00  to  $90.00  per  year  for  each  mile.  If  $1,000,000 
or  $1,500,000  could  be  appropriated  annually  by  the  State 
and  divided  among  the  counties,  it  would  prove  of  great  value 
to  the  rural  districts,  and  the  advantages  derived  from  improve- 
ments carried  out  in  this  manner  would  be  beyond  estimation. 
Such  an  outlay  of  money  would  repay  itself  many  fold  in  a  few 
years. 

III. — THE    CONSTRUCTION  OF    PUBLIC  ROADS. 

I.  The  Telford  System. — This  system  is  very  similar  to  that 
employed  by  the  Romans  in  constructing  their  great  highways 
many  centuries  ago.  It  was  revived  in  England  during  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century,  because  the  promoter  of  this 
revival,  Telford,  considered  it  preferable  to  the  system  then  in 
use  in  England,  which  had  been  introduced  by  Macadam.  It  is 
still  a  question  of  preference  with  many  people. 

The  Foundation — How  Made. — The  roadbed  in  this  system 
is  built  up  of  large  stones  to  any  desired  depth,  set  as  a  pave- 
ment. They  are  closely  packed,  and  this  gives  a  solid  and  firm 
foundation  to  the  road.  It  is  preferable  to  use  irregular  stones, 
because  they  more  readily  hold  the  layer  of  broken  stones  cover- 
ing them.  These  small  stones  will  not  readily  bind  on  a  smooth 
surface.  This  fact  is  plainly  shown  in  resurfacing  a  road  built 
on  this  system,  and  also  in  placing  a  thin  macadam  on  exposed 
rocky  surfaces. 

Layer  of  Broken  Stones. — The  layer  of  broken  stones  cover- 
ing the  foundation  should  be  composed  of  stones  of  less  than 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  69 

two  inches  in  diameter.  They  should  be  of  granitic  or  basaltic 
rock,  or  of  limestone  or  argillaceous  shale,  because  the  perma- 
nency of  the  road  depends  on  the  hardness  of  this  layer.  This 
layer  has  to  maintain  the  wear  and  tear  of  travel,  and  it  is,  there- 
fore, important  that  the  hardness  of  its  material  be  the  primary 
consideration.  This  layer  should  be  thoroughly  rolled  with  a 
ten-to-twenty-ton  iron  roller,  to  pack  the  stones  firmly  and  bind 
them  on  the  foundation  stones.  In  depth  this  layer  may  vary 
from  two  inches  up  to  six  or  more  inches. 

The  Surface  Dressing. — The  third  layer  should  be  com- 
posed of  fine  screenings  of  sufficient  thickness  to  cover  the 
preceding  layer,  and  it  should  also  be  thoroughly  rolled,  in  order 
to  pack  it  firmly  and  thus  render  the  surface  of  the  finished 
road  hard  and  smooth,  so  as  to  offer  as  little  resistance  to  wheels 
as  possible.  It  should  be  rolled  while  wet,  as  in  that  condition 
it  packs  much  better  than  in  the  dry  state.  It  may  be  of  the 
screenings  made  in  crushing  the  stones  for  the  preceding  layer, 
or  it  may  be  of  crushed  sandstone,  shale  or  slate.  The  main 
use  for  this  layer  is  to  bind  the  preceding  layer  of  crushed 
stone  and  to  give  firmness  and  smoothness  to  the  surface  of  the 
road  as  soon  as  possible  after  completion.  The  finished  road 
should  slope  toward  the  sides,  with  an  elevation  of  about  four 
inches  in  the  middle ;  this  will  afford  sufficient  slope  for  drainage. 

Objections  to  this  System. — The  objections  offered  to  this 
system  are  that  the  surface  layers  wear  away,  and  thus  the  large 
stones  composing  the  foundation  are  exposed,  rendering  the 
road  rough  and  uneven.  When  this  occurs,  the  entire  road  must 
be  resurfaced,  necessitating  a  great  outlay  of  money.  This 
objection  is  an  important  one,  and  should  be  considered  in 
deciding  which  system  to  adopt.  It  is  also  more  costly  than  the 
macadam  system. 

2.  Tlie  Maeadam  System. — This  system  was  introduced 
into  England  by  John  MacAdam,  about  -1816;  it  is  similar 
to  the  system  employed  successfully  in  France  as  early  as 
1760.  In  a  few  years  more  than  25,000  miles  of  road 


;o  ROAD  -MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

had  been  constructed  on  this  plan.  The  chief  reasons 
which  led  Telford  to  revive  the  system  employed  by  the  Romans, 
and  which  is  now  known  as  the  Telford  system,  was  the  defect 
of  the  macadam  system  in  that  it  had  not  sufficient  depth  in 
low  places,  and  had  not  been  employed  with  proper  care.  The 
system  had  proved  more  satisfactory  in  France  because  the 
roads  had  been  built  more  carefully.  The  depth  of  the  structure 
is  therefore  an  important  consideration  in  this  system  for  low 
places. 

Construction  of  the  Roadbed. — It  consists  of  a  roadbed  built 
up  entirely  of  one-and-a-half-inch  angular  stones.  No  large 
stones  are  used  for  the  foundation  in  this  system.  These  small 
stones  must  be  of  the  specific  size,  small  enough  to  pass  through 
a  two-inch  ring,  and  should  be  of  crushed  granitic  rock,  or  of 
limestone  or  argillaceous  shale,  crushed  by  a  machine  designed 
for  the  purpose.  The  hardness  is  a  very  important  feature,  as 
they  must  bear  the  entire  wear  and  tear  of  travel.  This  layer 
may  be  from  six  to  fifteen  .inches  in  depth,  and  must  be  fre^ 
quently  rolled  while  wet  by  means  of  heavy  iron  rollers  to  pack 
the  stones  as  firmly  as  possible ;  this  will  prevent  them  from 
rutting  from  heavy  teams  during  wet  weather. 

The  Surface  Layer. — The  surface  dressing  should  consist 
of  fine  screenings  of  the  same  material  formed  during  the  crush- 
ing process,  or  of  crushed  sandstone  or  shale.  This  layer 
requires  the  same  treatment  and  conditions  as  the  correspond- 
ing layer  in  the  Telford  system,  as  it  merely  serves  to  bind  the 
layer  of  stones  below  it  and  gives  hardness  and  smoothness  to 
the  surface  of  the  road  as  soon  as  completed. 

The  finished  road  should  have  an  elevation  in  the  middle  of 
about  four  inches,  gradually  sloping  toward  the  edges.  Such  a 
slope  is  necessary  to  carry  off  the  surface  water  and  yet  will  not 
impede  travel. 

Objections  to  the  System. — An  objection  offered  to  this 
system  is  that  it  is  liable  to  cut  into  ruts  after  heavy  frosts,  and 
is  therefore  unsuited  for  heavy  hauling,  but  this  difficulty  can  be 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  7* 

entirely  obviated  by  giving  a  proper  depth  to  the  macadam 
structure  in  low,  swampy  places,  and  by  thorough  rolling.  A 
depth  of  six  inches  is  not  sufficient  depth  in  low  places  to  sup- 
port heavy  teams,  and  is  certain  to  cut  into  ruts,  hence  a  proper 
depth  will  obviate  all  this  and  render  the  road  permanent  and 
durable.  An  arched  roadway  and  proper  rolling  will  also 
greatly  increase  its  durability. 

Conclusions. — From  the  foregoing  discussion,  we  conclude 
that  the  macadamized  system  is  preferable  for  general  road 
construction,  in  that  it  is  more  likely  to  be  permanent,  and  re- 
quires less  resurfacing  and  repairing  that  the  Telford  system. 
A.  J.  Cassatt  says  :  "  From  a  number  of  years'  experience  with 
both  Telford  and  macadam  roads,  I  am  strongly  of  the  opinion 
that  the  latter  is  the  best  for  our  country."  Even  if  it  should 
cut  into  ruts  in  some  places,  these  can  be  filled  in  with  a  few 
cartloads  of  stones  at  little  expense,  thus  making  the  road  as 
good  as  before,  while  the  same  material  would  not  go  far  toward 
resurfacing  a  Telford  road.  The  cost  of  repairing  in  the  mac- 
adam system  does  not  exceed  $10.00  per  mile  each  year. 

From  the  cost  of  Telford  and  macadam  roads  constructed 
by  the  Friends'  school  at  Westtown,  Chester  County,  we  infer 
that  the  cost  of  Telford  roads  slightly  exceeds  that  of  macadam 
roads. 

They  had  7300  feet  of  Telford  road  constructed,  fourteen 
feet  wide,  with  foundation  of  large  stones  eight  inches  deep,  and 
with  a  surface  layer  of  one-and-one-half-inch  stones  sufficient 

to  bring  the  depth  to   fourteen  inches  in  the  middle  and  ten 

V*»  •»A*-Jl-'» 
inches  at  the  sides.     This  cost  them  $4200  or  $2.00  per  running 

yard,  exclusive  of  grading  and  finishing  the  sides  of  the  road  and 
cleaning  the  ditches. 

At  the  same  time  they  had  a  macadamized  road  175  yards 
in  length  contracted  for,  to  be  made  of  broken  stones  covered 
with  fine  screenings.  This  was  to  be  fourteen  feet  wide,  eight 
inches  deep  in  the  middle  and  four  inches  at  the  edges,  at  a  cost 
of  97  cents  per  running  yard,  or  at  the  rate  of  $1707  per  mile. 


72  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Another  macadam  road,  fourteen  feet  wide,  and  twelve 
inches  in  the  middle  and  nine  inches  in  depth  at  the  edges,  was 
also  contracted  for  at  a  cost  of  $1.45  per  running  yard,  or  at  the 
rate  of  $2552  per  mile.  The  material  was  close  at  hand  in  each 
case  and  the  facilities  for  crushing  were  excellent,  as  water 
was  used,  thus  saving  the  cost  of  coal. 

The  cost  of  the  Telford  road  built  by  the  Westtown  school 
is  unusually  high,  but  its  depth  is  in  excess  of  that  given  to  ordi- 
nary roads.  The  macadam  contracted  for  at  97  cents  per  yard 
represents  nearer  the  cost  of  such  roads.  No  high-grade  mac- 
adam road  should  cost  more  than  $3000  per  mile.  Such  a  road 
should  be  sixteen  feet  wide  and  twelve  to  fourteen  inches  thick. 

Prof.  Shaler  says  :  "  Founded  on  hardpan  or  subsoil,  it  is 
commonly  possible  to  make  a  tolerably  permanent  road  by  plac- 
ing upon  the  bed  a  layer  of  from  eight  to  twelve  inches  of 
broken  limestone,  or,  what  is  better,  a  less  thickness  of  broken 
shale."1 

Mr.  J.  F.  Pope,  a  prominent  civil  engineer,  estimates  that  "  a 
road  eighteen  feet  wide,  nine  inches  thick  at  the  centre,  falling 
to  four  and  one-half  inches  at  the  sides,  can  be  built  for  $2100."  2 

"Mr.  Samuel  R.  Downing8  says  :  "My  estimate  for  a  town- 
ship-built, sixteen-foot  wide,  ten-inch  thick  macadam  was  $2845, 
and  that,  further,  upon  the  same  basis  of  calculation,  a  twelve- 
foot  nine-inch  thick  road  could  be  built  for  $1960,  or  a  ten-foot 
six-inch  track  for  $1066." 

IV. — THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  PUBLIC  ROADS. 

In  the  Telford  System. — In  this  system  resurfacing  is  re- 
quired more  frequently  than  in  the  macadam  system,  because 
the  surface  layers  wear  away  and  expose  the  larger  stones  com- 
posing the  foundation,  thus  rendering  the  surface  of  the  road 
rough  and  uneven.  When  this  occurs,  the  road  requires  com- 

1  Prof.  N.  S.  Shaler,  Scribner's  Magazine,  October,  1889. 

*  Mr.  J.  F.  Pope,  quoted  by  Samuel  R.  Downing,  in  Public  Ledger,  March  zoth,  1890. 

s  Mr  Samuel  R.  Downing,  Public  Ledger.  March  aoth,  1890. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  73 

plete  resurfacing  to  put  it  in  repair.  This  is  necessarily 
costly,  as  the  two  upper  layers  of  this  system  must  be  replaced 
entirely.  The  road  will  wear  away  faster  in  some  places  than  in 
others,  making  it  necessary  to  repair  it  where  the  greatest  strain 
is  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  It  requires  a  long  time  for  these 
new  surface  layers  to  bind  in  with  the  old  road,  and  they  are 
more  easily  displaced  than  the  original  layers.  To  completely 
resurface  a  Telford  road,  fourteen  feet  wide,  to  a  depth  of  six 
inches,  will  cost  from  $1750  to  $2000  per  mile. 

In  the  Mac  Adam  System. — In  this  system  the  chief  difficulty 
is  from  rutting,  but  a  few  cartloads  of  stones  will  fill  in  many 
yards  of  ruts,  and  these  soon  bind  in  with  the  roadbed  and  leave 
a  hard,  smooth  surface  as  before.  The  surface  rarely  becomes 
uneven,  but  if  it  should,  a  few  cartloads  of  screenings  put  on 
in  time  will  save  a  great  deal  of  expense  by  keeping  the  road  in 
good  condition  all  the  time.  There  should  be  constant  super- 
vision of  such  roads  every  day  of  the  year.  A  great  deal  of 
money  can  be  saved  by  such  constant  attention.  If  small  defects, 
taking  only  a  few  hours  to  repair,  are  neglected,  they  will,  in  time, 
require  that  many  days  or  weeks  to  remedy  them. 

Should  a  complete  resurfacing  be  required  in  this  system 
it  will  be  as  costly  as  in  the  Telford  system,  but  from  the  nature 
of  the  roadbed  it  is  not  liable  to  become  uneven  and  rough, 
because  it  has  the  same  hardness  throughout,  and  it  will  there- 
fore wear  for  a  great  many  years  before  such  a  general  resurfac- 
ing will  be  required.  If  the  roadbed  has  sufficient  body  from 
the  beginning,  a  great  deal  of  subsequent  expense  is  saved 
thereby.  The  macadam  system,  if  properly  constructed  in  the 
first  place,  will  prove  the  most  economic  in  the  end,  and  it  will 
pay  well  to  give  such  a  road  proper  depth,  and  thus  save  subse- 
quent expense  for  resurfacing. 

V. — THE    MAINTENANCE    OF    PUBLIC    ROADS. 

I.  Taxation  for  Road  Purposes.  •  The  Labor  System. — Seven 
States  and  one  Territory,  New  Mexico,  employ  this  system 


74  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

entirely  in  maintaining  their  public  road  system.  This  is  a 
relic  of  feudal  and  slavery  times,  and  is  found  in  use  only 
in  the  Southern  States.  Alabama  requires  all  able-bodied 
males  from  eighteen  to  forty-five  years  of  age  to  work  on 
the  public  roads  of  their  district  for  ten  days  in  each  year. 
North  Carolina  requires  all  able-bodied  males  from  eighteen 
to  forty-five  years  of  age  to  work  on  the  public  roads  of  their 
district  for  fifteen  days  in  each  year,  and  Georgia,  all  able- 
bodied  males  from  sixteen  to  fifty  years  for  from  six  to  ten 
days  in  each  year ;  South  Carolina,  all  able-bodied  males  from 
sixteen  to  fifty  years  for  from  three  to  twelve  days  in  each 
year ;  Mississippi,  all  able-bodied  males  from  eighteen  to  fifty 
years  not  more  than  ten  days ;  Louisiana,  all  males,  not  more 
than  twelve  days ;  Kentucky,  all  males  from  sixteen  to  fifty 
years,  with  no  limitation  in  time.  New  Mexico,  all  males  from 
twenty-one  to  fifty  years  for  two  days. 

In  Illinois  the  labor  system  may  also  be  adopted  in  any 
district  upon  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  voters,  all  able- 
bodied  males  from  twenty-one  to  fifty  years  of  age  being  required 
to  work  on  the  public  roads  not  less  than  one  nor  more  than 
three  days  in  each  year.  Arkansas  also  requires  all  able-bodied 
males  from  eighteen  to  forty-five  years  of  age  to  work  on  the 
public  roads  of  their  district  for  ten  days  in  each  year,  and  only 
levies  a  money  tax  when  the  roads  cannot  be  kept  in  good  con- 
dition by  the  labor  of  those  liable  for  road  duty. 

This  system  is  unfair  because  it  recompenses  inferior  hands 
the  same  as  those  who  are  good  workers.  It  brings  the  best  work- 
ers down  to  the  level  of  the  poorest.  This  system  compels  each 
man  to  work  on  the  public  roads  for  so  many  days,  and  the 
actual  cost  of  maintenance  is  far  greater  than  under  any  other 
system,  because,  though  the  State  pays  no  money  to  maintain  its 
public  roads,  their  maintenance  costs  its  citizens  an  enormous 
amount  of  labor,  which  represents  so  much  money  to  them. 
Many  sections  of  the  States  employing  this  system  complain  of 
having  the  worst-maintained  public  roads  to  be  found  anywhere. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  75 

This  system  has  no  points  in  its  favor  and  should  be  abolished 
wherever  in  use.  We  would  not  for  a  moment,  therefore,  think 
of  adopting  it  here.  Who  would  think  of  using  this  plan  in 
large  cities  ?  Economy  requires  that  the  highways  of  cities  be 
maintained  by  money  taxation,  and  the  money  expended  in  the 
most  systematic  and  economic  manner  possible.  The  labor 
system  would  be  too  cumbersome  for  cities.  The  laborers  could 
not  be  properly  directed.  The  system  is  altogether  impracticable, 

Money,  Taxation  and  Labor  Combined. — This  system  is  in 
vogue  in  this  State  at  the  present  time,  and,  in  fact,  in  all  the 
States  in  some  form  or  other,  except  the  seven  relying  on  the 
labor  system  entirely. 

A  tax  is  levied  on  all  real  and  personal  property  and  on 
trades  and  professions.  This  tax  may  be  paid  in  labor  or  money 
at  the  option  of  the  taxpayer,  but  a  large  proportion  of  it  is  paid 
in  labor,  while  formerly,  when  the  dirt  was  shoveled  into  the 
road  instead  of  by  means  of  the  scraper,  many  earned  more  than 
their  tax,  and  were  paid  the  overplus  in  money;  this  is,  however, 
not  now  allowed. 

Our  present  system  of  taxation  is  as  nearly  equitable  as  our 
knowledge  of  economic  principles  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
it  could  be  made.  It  makes  its  demands  on  all  property  and  on 
all  incomes,  according  to  their  several  abilities.  This  is  as  it 
should  be.  The  burden  of  supporting  the  public  road  system 
should  be  as  equitably  apportioned  as  the  benefits  derived  from 
them  will  justify.  It  is  the  mode  of  payment  that  we  object  to: 
the  payment  of  road  taxes  in  labor.  The  payment  of  taxes  in 
labor  has  not  proved  profitable,  in  that  taxpayers  thereby  shirk 
their  duties  and  responsibilities  to  such  an  extent  that  the  roads 
have  suffered  from  neglect  and  mismanagement.  By  some,  the 
greater  part  of  their  time  on  the  road  is  spent  in  the  telling  of 
yarns,  while  others,  who  are  more  conscientious,  do  the  work 
that  is  accomplished.  It  allows  property  owners  to  impose  on 
their  township  by  substituting  inferior  hands  while  they  draw 
the  same  compensation  for  them  as  those  receive  who  are  able- 


76  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

oodied  workers.  In  this  respect  it  is  unfair  toward  those  who 
posses's  no  property.  Such  transient  labor  cannot  be  as  sys- 
tematically directed  as  can  the  labor  under  a  contractor  who 
expects  so  much  work  from  his  men,  and  sees  that  they  accom- 
plish it. 

By  Money  Taxation  Alone. — Taxes  should  be  paid  in  money, 
in  order  that  it  may  be  expended  as  economically  as  possible. 
A  poll  tax  in  money  may  not  be  as  easy  to  collect  as  one  in  labor, 
but  taking  into  consideration  the  time  that  is  squandered  in 
paying  the  tax  in  labor,  and  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  the  labor 
rendered,  and  that  the  season  at  which  this  labor  payment  is 
required  interferes  with  the  regular  work  of  the  taxpayers  at  a 
most  inopportune  time,  makes  a  money  tax  far  more  expedient, 
more  practicable,  and  more  economic.  This  is  a  tax  according 
to  income,  and  therefore  represents  the  ability  or  faculty  of  the 
taxpayer,  and  divides  the  burden,  as  near  as  may  be,  according 
to  the  benefits  received. 

No  State  has  this  system  in  vogue  entirely.  A  number  of 
the  States  have  an  optional  payment  in  money,  but  it  is  expected, 
in  all  such  instances,  that  the  major  portion  of  the  tax  will  be 
paid  in  labor.  There  is  no  other  provision  made  to  accomplish 
the  work.  This  system  is  pronounced,  by  those  who  are  com- 
petent to  judge,  to  be  the  most  efficient,  the  fairest  to  all  classes, 
and  the  most  economic.  It  is  the  most  efficient  because  the 
labor  most  suited  to  the  work  to  be  done  can  be  obtained  in  this 
way  ;  it  is  the  fairest  to  all  classes  because  it  compels  those 
who  use  the  roads  most  to  pay  most  to  maintain  them  ;  and  it  is 
the  most  economic  because  it  consolidates  all  the  money  levied 
for  road  purposes,  and  it  can  therefore  be  expended  where  and 
for  what  purpose  most  needed,  and  in  the  most  systematic 
manner. 

This  system  is  employed  in  large  cities  and  towns.  It 
would  be  impracticable  to  have  labor  taxation  in  cities  ;  the 
labor  could  not  be  applied  to  any  advantage,  and  it  is  but  natu- 
ral that  this  is  the  only  system  that  should  be  adopted,  whether 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  77 

for  town  or  country.  It  is  the  only  system  by  which  the  public 
roads  of  a  district  can  be  systematically  constructed  and  main- 
tained. All  kinds  of  property  should  pay  its  share  of  the  bur- 
den. Tt  should  be  adopted  in  this  State,  and  the  payment  of 
road  tax  in  labor  abolished. 

The  construction  and  repairing  of  the  roads,  under  this 
system,  can  be  given  out  by  contract  to  men  controlling  gangs 
of  laborers,  and  there  would  be  no  objection  to  employing  con- 
vict labor  upon  the  roads,  as  it  would  not  interfere  with  the  daily 
work  of  laborers,  as  their  employment  in  the  manufacturing 
industries  and  mines  so  often  seems  to  do. 

2.  Raising  Funds  for  Improving  the  Roads  by  Borrowing 
Capital. — Townships  should  have  the  authority  to  borrow  large 
sums  of  money  by  giving  bonds  running  a  series  of  years — say 
fifty  years — wherewith  to  improve  the  principal  roads.  Should 
they  do  this,  the  principal  roads  of  the  township  could  be  mac- 
adamized at  once,  while  the  money  raised  by  taxation  at  the 
present  rates  would  be  sufficient  to  keep  these  roads  in  repair, 
and  pay  at  least  part  of  the  interest  on  the  bonds.  This  would 
entail  no  extra  burden  on  the  taxpayers,  and  they  would  have 
the  advantages  of  good  roads  while  the  improvements  are  being 
paid  for.  The  coming  generations,  in  this  manner,  will  also  be 
obliged  to  assist  in  defraying  the  expense  of  improving  the 
roads.  This  would  not  be  unfair  to  them,  because  they  will 
enjoy  the  same  benefits,  and  should,  therefore,  assist  in  paying 
for  them.  A  sinking  fund  should  be  started  at  once  to  eventu- 
ally pay  off  the  bonds.  Many  conservative  persons  are  adverse 
to  this  plan  of  going  into  debt  to  improve  the  roads,  but  it  seems, 
from  what  we  have  said,  especially  in  reference  to  the  equal 
benefits  derived  from  the  improvements  by  posterity,  and  there- 
fore their  equal  liability,  and  the  great  immediate  and  perma- 
nent benefits  from  improved  roads,  that  this  plan  is  entirely 
proper,  and  we  feel  no  hesitation  in  supporting  its  adoption. 

If  each  township  had  the  authority,  if  it  desired  to  make 
use  of  it,  to  borrow  $50,000  on  bonds,  and  the  average  cost  of 


78  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

construction  of  macadam  roads  is  $2,500  per  mile,  then  the 
$50,000  raised  on  the  bonds  would  be  sufficient  to  construct 
twenty  miles  of  road,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  cost  of  twenty 
miles  should  be  considerably  less  than  $50,000,  and  we  feel  safe 
in  saying  that  twenty-five  miles  is  the  lowest  average  that  would 
be  obtained  with  proper  management. 

Gwynedd  Township,  Montgomery  County,  has,  on  a  rough 
calculation,  thirty-eight  miles  of  internal  dirt  roads,  besides  six- 
teen miles, of  township  line  roads,  making  a  total  of  forty-six 
miles,  counting  half  the  line  roads  as  also  belonging  to  it.  It 
has  also  about  fourteen  miles  of  turnpike  road.  By  issuing 
bonds  for  $50,000,  all  but  thirteen  miles  of  its  internal  dirt  roads 
could  be  macadamized  at  once,  and  this  would  leave  only  the 
least  traveled  in  their  present  condition,  and  a  large  part  of 
these  could  be  abandoned  altogether  without  inconvenience  to 
any  one.  The  maintenance  of  these  thirteen  miles  would  not 
be  costly,  because  they  would  be  little  used. 

The  time  and  labor  saved  would  represent  the  earnings  of 
the  borrowed  capital. 

State  Appropriation. — The  State  should  give  aid  to  the 
counties  to  maintain  their  public  roads.  Let  the  State  appro- 
priate $1,000,000  to  $1,500,000  annually,  for  ten  years,  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  the  public  roads,  which  shall  be  appor- 
tioned among  the  different  counties  according  to  their  ability 
to  improve  their  public  roads,  and  according  to  the  value  of 
such  improvements  to  the  State.  This  money  should  be  applied 
each  year  in  macadamizing  an  additional  piece  of  road.  This 
would  soon  lessen  the  cost  of  maintenance,  on  account  of  the 
decreased  cost  of  maintaining  macadamized  roads. 

The  improved  condition  of  the  public  roads  would  benefit 
the  towns  as  well  as  the  country  districts,  and  they  should 
therefore  give  assistance,  and  this  can  best  be  brought  about  by 
State  aid  to  the  counties.  This  aid  should  be  in  proportion  to 
the  wealth  of  'the  county.  The  poorer  districts  should  receive 
the  most  aid  if  their  improvements  would  benefit  the  State  at 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  79 

large  as  well  as  those  counties.  It  should  be  left  to  the  State 
ana  county  road  engineers  to  decide  how  the  State  appropria- 
tion snould  be  apportioned. 

3.  Road  Officers. — In  order  to  secure  the  best  management 
ot  tne  public  road  system,  each  township  should  be  constituted 
a  road  district,  if  large,  or  two  small  townships,  or  several 
townships  having  but  few  internal  improvements,  might  con- 
stitute a  district.  Each  township  should  have  its  board  of 
controllers,  and  each  district  should  have  its  road  engineer  or 
supervisor,  appointed  by  the  board  of  control.  This  board 
should  have  control  of  the  funds  and  receive  contracts  for  road 
construction.  There  should  be  a  county  supervisor  in  each 
county,  and  a  State  engineer  or  supervisor  appointed  in  a 
similar  manner  to  the  county  and  state  superintendents  for' 
school  purposes.  They  should  be  specially  trained  civil  en- 
gineers, receiving  suitable  salaries.  Their  salaries  would  be 
saved  every  year  in  the  better  management  of  road  affairs. 

State  normal  schools  should  introduce  engineering  courses, 
so  as  to  afford  cheap  and  easy  means  for  young  men  to  fit  them- 
selves for  the  position  of  road  engineer.  They  should  receive 
State  aid  similar  to  those  intending  to  teach  in  the  public 
schools.  In  this  manner  a  corps  of  competent  road  engineers 
could  be  trained  in  a  short  time,  and  there  would  be  plenty  of 
applicants  for  the  positions  if  the  salary  were  equal  to  that  for 
school  principals. 

Township  Supervisors  and  Boards  of  Control. — The  town- 
ship is  the  unit  of  government  under  the  present  plan,  and  it 
seems  to  be  the  one  which  is  most  likely  to  give  general  satis- 
faction, and  should  therefore  be  retained  in  recasting  the  mode 
of  road  government. 

Each  township  should  have  its  board  of  controllers  or  com- 
missioners, say  of  three  members,  serving  gratuitously,  like 
township  school  boards,  and  should  have  the  same  authority 
relatively  as  school  boards  have  in  their  districts.  They  should 


8o  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

be  elected  triennially,  i.  e.y  one  each  year,  and  should  appoint  a 
competent  civil  engineer  as  supervisor  to  carry  out  their  plans. 
It  is  highly  important  that  the  supervisor  of  roads  be  a  trained 
civil  engineer.  It  is  a  business  that  cannot  be  grasped  intui- 
tively. The  average  farmer  is  not  more  competent  for  the  posi- 
tion than  he  would  be  for  that  of  one  of  the  learned  professions. 
This  has  been  on«  of  the  main  causes  of  the  wretched  condi- 
tion of  the  public  roads.  Supervisors  should  therefore  be 
appointed  by  the  board  of  control,  and  the  elective  system 
abolished,  as  a  competent  man  is  more  likely  to  be  appointed  by 
the  board  than  if  chosen  by  popular  election. 

The  supervisor  should  see  that  the  contracts  for  the  con- 
struction and  repairing  of  the  roads,  entered  into  by  the  board, 
are  carried  out  in  the  best  manner,  or  he  may  assume  full  con- 
trol of  the  work  himself,  hiring  the  men  and  receiving  their  pay 
from  the  board  the  same  as  would  a  contractor.  It  is,  however, 
preferable  that  they  should  be  contracted  for,  as  the  best  labor 
can  thus  be  secured.  Cities  employ  this  system,  and  hold  the 
contractors  responsible  until  the  work  has  been  accepted  as 
fully  satisfactory. 

His  salary  should  be  in  accordance  with  his  position  and 
the  value  of  his  services.  If  he  is  employed  by  more  than  one 
township,  he  should  draw  a  portion  of  his  salary  from  each. 

County  Supervisors  and  Boards  of  Control. — The  county 
commissioners  serve  as  a  board  in  the  control  of  the  affairs  of 
the  county.  They  build  the  county  bridges,  and  thus  their 
duties  will  not  be  extended  very  much  in  giving  them  general 
control  over  the  more  important  roads  in  the  county.  They 
should  be  elected  as  at  present,  and  should  superintend  the  con- 
struction and  maintenance  of  the  county  roads  through  a  county 
supervisor  or  engineer  appointed  by  them. 

This  officer  should  be  a  thoroughly-trained  civil  engineer, 
competent  to  give  full  information  to  the  board  on  all  points  in 
road  construction.  He  should  make  an  annual  report  to  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  81 

State  engineer  as  to  the  condition  of  the  roads,  and  the  cost 
and  extent  of  the  improvements  made,  and  such  other  informa- 
tion as  would  be  of  general  value  and  interest.  He  should 
determine,  with  the  State  engineer,  the  amount  of  State  aid  his 
county  should  receive,  and  should  apportion  it  among  the  sev- 
eral districts  by  the  advice  and  assistance  of  the  township  engi- 
neers. His  compensation  should  be  in  accordance  with  his  pro- 
fessional abilities  and  the  value  of  his  services. 

State  Road  Engineer  and  Assistants — There  should  be  a 
State  supervisor  of  roads,  with  one  or  more  assistants,  appointed 
by  the  Governor,  who  shall  have  jurisdiction  over  the  inter- 
county  and  inter-State  road  matters,  and  be  the  head  of  the  road 
department  of  the  State.  He  should,  with  the  county  engineers, 
form  a  State  association  of  road  engineers,  which  should  meet 
at  least  once  each  year,  and  discuss  the  different  aspects  of  the 
road  question,  and  formulate  new  laws  whenever  required,  and 
present  them  to  the  State  Legislature  for  adoption.  He  should, 
with  the  county  engineers,  determine  the  amount  of  State  aid 
which  each  county  should  receive,  and  in  this  he  should  be 
guided  by  the  wealth  of  the  county  and  the  general  value  and 
importance  of  the  improvements  to  be  made. 

The  State  engineer  should  make  an  annuai  report  to  the 
Legislature,  giving  statistical  information  on  the  general  condi- 
tion of  the  roads  of  the  State  and  the  number  and  kind  of  im- 
provements promulgated  during  the  year.  Such  a  report  would 
be  of  incalculable  value  both  now  and  in  the  future.  He  should 
have  made  a  State  road  map  showing  the  condition  of  the  pub- 
lic roads  leading  from  and  to  all  the  principal  towns.  Such  a 
map  would  be  of  great  value  to  the  road  engineers,  to  the  travel- 
ing public,  and  to  schools  and  colleges. 

4.  Administration  of  Roads.  The  Classification  of  Roads. — 
For  convenience  of  administration,  and  to  divide  the  work 
systematically,  the  public  roads  should  be  divided  into  three 
classes  \  First,  those  local  roads  in  the  townships  connecting 
the  principal  roads,  and  which  are  therefore  of  secondary  import- 
6 


82  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

ance  and  of  mainly  local  value,  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  township  boards  and  their  road  engineer,  and  should  be 
laid  out,  constructed,  and  maintained  by  them,  chiefly  by  local 
taxation,  and  should  be  known  as  township  roads.  Second,  those 
roads  leading  from  one  town  to  another,  traversing  several 
townships,  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  county  boards 
and  the  county  road  engineer,  and  they  should  decide  as  to  their 
location,  width,  and  the  nature  of  the  improvements  to  be  placed 
upon  them,  while  the  portions  in  each  township  are  laid  out, 
constructed,  and  maintained  by  the  township  authorities,  and 
the  cost  of  construction  and  maintenance  sustained  by  the 
township  and  county,  according  to  the  benefits  derived  by  each. 
The  township  should  not  contribute  more  than  half  the  cost  of 
maintenance  of  roads  of  the  second  class,  and  the  county  the 
remainder.  These  should  be  known  as  county  roads.  Third, 
those  roads  extending  from  one  county  to  another,  or  through 
several  counties,  or  from  one  State  to  another,  or  forming  the 
boundaries  of  these,  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
State  engineer  and  his  assistants  as  far  as  location,  width,  and 
nature  of  improvements  are  concerned,  but  they  should  be  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  county  and  township  authorities  for  con- 
struction and  maintenance,  the  same  as  the  county  roads.  These 
should  be  known  as  state  roads.  The  townships  traversed 
should  not  pay  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  cost  of  maintenance 
of  roads  of  the  third  class,  and  the  remainder  of  the  cost  should 
be  paid  by  the  state  and  county. 

This  plan  would  give  efficient  administration  of  the  public 
roads  of  the  State,  and  the  burden  and  duty  of  one  board  cannot 
be  shifted  on  to  another.  Roads  of  the  third  and  second  class 
should  have  a  width  of  twelve  to  sixteen  feet,  and  a  depth  of 
from  ten  to  fifteen  inches  of  macadam  structures.  Sixteen  feet 
is  wide  enough  for  the  paved  part  of  most  roads,  and  twelve 
inches  sufficient  depth.  The  roads  of  the  first  class  should  have 
a  width  of  eight  to  twelve  feet,  and  a  depth  four  to  ten  inches, 
or  more,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil.  Six  inches  is  con- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  83 

sidered  by  many  to  be  an  insufficient  depth  for  macadam  roads, 
but,  according  to  the  tests  made  in  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  by  Mr. 
B.  D.  Pierce,1  the  street  commissioner,  with  four-inch  macadams 
of  crushed  stone  rolled  with  a  ten-ton  roller,  we  would  infer  that 
if  the  roads  were  properly  constructed,  according  to  the  best- 
known  methods,  that  a  depth  of  four  inches  was  sufficient  for  most 
purposes.  The  stone  must  be  one-and-one-half-inch  stone,  and 
thoroughly  rolled  while  wet,  with  several  inches  of  screenings, 
made  in  crushing  the  stone,  placed  on  top  and  also  well  rolled, 
to  bind  the  layer  below  it,  and,  above  all,  the  bed  of  the  road 
must  have  an  elevation  of  at  least  four  inches  in  the  middle, 
gradually  sloping  toward  the  sides  ;  this  will  give  the  finished 
road  an  arched  appearance,  while  really  the  entire  roadbed  is 
arched.  Such  a  roadbed  will  be  much  firmer  than  a  level  one. 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  has  fifty  miles  of  such  road,  and  it  gives 
entire  satisfaction.  These  roads  are  considered  by  Mr.  Pierce 
and  members  of  the  board  of  public  works,  to  be  better  than 
Telford  roads,  and  under  equally  long  traffic  are  as  easily  and 
cheaply  maintained. 

We  think,  therefore,  that  in  many  localities  a  roadbed  of 
from  four  to  six  inches,  properly  constructed,  would  answer  all 
the  requirements.  H.  W.  Kratz,  Esq.,2  member  of  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  from  Montgomery  County,  says  that  where 
the  land  is  well  drained,  and  for  ordinary  use,  six  inches  is  suf- 
ficient. 

Road  Machinery. — The  county  boards  should  procure  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  steam  stone  crushers  to  prepare  the  stones  used 
in  macadamizing,  and  a  sufficient  number  of  iron  rollers  of  ten 
to  twenty  tons  weight  to  roll  the  new  roads  as  fast  as 
constructed. 

A  portable  stone  crusher,  costing  about  $1000  would  turn 
out  about  eighty  perches  of  stone  per  day,  and  would  thus  earn, 
at  fifteen  cents  per  perch,  $12.00.  The  wages  of  three  men  would 

1  Engineering  and  Building  Record,  quoted  by  Downing. 

2  Quoted  by  Downing. 


84  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

be  $5.00,  and  $7.00  would  pay  for  rent  and  coaling  a  thresher 
engine,  making  the  total  cost  of  crushing  fifteen  cents  per  perch, 
while  a  perch  of  stone  hammered  by  hand  would  cost  $1.00,  a 
saving  of  eighty-five  cents  on  each  perch.1  A  stone  crusher 
would  provide  stone  enough  for  three  or  four  townships. 

A  good  steam  roller  six  feet  in  width  costs  $5000,  but  it  is 
better  than  a  horse  roller.  It  may  not  be  necessary  to  provide 
one  for  each  township,  but  one  for  every  two  or  three  townships, 
according  to  their  size.  These  rollers  may  range  from  ten  to 
twenty  tons  in  weight.  It  may  be  desirable  for  the  township 
boards  to  procure  several  horses  and  carts  to  do  all  the  hauling 
on  the  roads.  It  would  be  cheaper  for  each  township  to  own 
several  teams  to  do  the  hauling  for  repairs.  The  original  outlay 
for  this  machinery  should  be  met  by  the  county. 

Laying  out  Roads. — An  important  question  which  will 
require  the  most  careful  study  from  road  engineers  is  the  laying 
out  of  new  roads  and  the  determination  as  to  which  roads  should 
be  improved  in  our  present  system.  In  our  present  system  there 
are  many  lines  of  roads  that  could  easily  be  dispensed  with,  and 
their  maintenance  is  therefore  an  entirely  unnecessary  burden. 
The  point  that  must  be  considered  primarily  is  how  best  to 
afford  a  means  of  communication  for  the  largest  number  of 
people,  with  the  least  amount  of  travel.  This  can  only  be  accom- 
plished by  taking  some  large  town  as  the  centre,  and  letting  the 
principal  roads  radiate  from  it  toward  the  more  important 
towns  surrounding  it,  in  a  straight  line,  if  possible,  and  next  by 
connecting  these  smaller  towns  by  the  shortest  routes  possible. 

This  sketch2  shows  how  much  more  serviceable  such  a  road 
system  would  be  as  compared  with  that  which  is  often  found,  or 
than  in  a  system  in  which  the  roads  run  North  and  South  and 
East  and  West,  as  they  do  in  the  newer  States,  along  the  section 
lines.  There  is  no  system  whatever  in  the  manner  in  which  our 

1  Samuel  R.  Downing,  West  Chester,  Pa. 

2  Sketch  omitted  as  unnecessary. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  85 

roads  are  laid  out  at  present,  at  least  some  of  them.  They  are 
often  the  remains  of  the  original  Indian  trails  or  the  bridle- 
paths of  our  forefathers. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  that  in  the  improvement  of  the 
public  roads,  those  roads  which  are  of  the  first  importance  shall 
be  improved  first,  and  if  possible  their  course  changed  so  as  to 
make  the  finished  road  as  serviceable  as  possible.  It  will  be 
found  that  if  such  a  system  is  adopted,  that  many  of  the  roads 
now  in  use  are  useless  and  may  be  reclaimed,  and  the  ground 
used  for  agricultural  purposes.  This  would  assist  somewhat  in 
defraying  the  expense  occasioned  in  acquiring  territory  for  new 
and  more  direct  routes. 

Repairing  Roads. — Bridges  and  ditches  must  be  constantly 
watched  and  repaired.  All  ditches  should  be  kept  open  so  that 
the  water  may  have  free  passage  and  not  damage  the  roadbed 
and  bridges. 

Any  roughness  of  the  surface  of  the  roads,  or  ruts,  should 
be  at  once  filled  in,  and  thus  avoid  greater  expense.  This  work 
will  keep  several  gangs  of  men  with  horse  and  cart  busy  most  of 
the  year  in  each  township.  This  repairing  should  be  looked 
after  by  the  road  engineer,  under  the  supervision  of  the  board. 

5.  Conclusions. — From  the  discussions  of  the  subject  we 
draw  the  following  conclusions  as  being  the  most  desirable 
and  most  economic  in  the  construction  of  the  public  roads  and 
the  maintenance  of  the  public  road  system  : 

First. — That  either  of  two  systems  of  road  construction  now 
in  use  in  many  places  might  be  adopted,  viz. :  the  Telford  and 
macadam  systems.  Of  these  the  macadam  system  seems  to  us 
to  be  the  most  desirable,  in  that,  if  properly  constructed,  it  is 
likely  to  be  more  durable,  and  hence  need  less  repairing  than 
the  Telford  system.  It  also  costs  less  than  the  Telford  system. 

Second. — That  toll  roads  or  turnpikes  should  be  abolished, 
because  they  are  monopolies  in  the  hands  of  a  few  stockholders, 
and  are  only  an  extra  burden  on  the  taxpayers  obliged  to  use 
them. 


86  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Third. — That  for  the  maintenance  of  the  road  system  the 
most  desirable  plan  is  that  by  money  taxation,  and  that  the  sys- 
tem of  working  out  road  taxes  should  be  abolished. 

Fourth. — That  funds  be  raised  in  the  different  townships  to 
macadamize  the  roads,  by  instituting  loans  on  bonds  running  a 
series  of  years,  and  that  a  sinking  fund  be  started  to  provide 
for  the  payment  of  this  loan,  and  that  the  State  give  aid  to 
the  different  counties,  according  to  their  needs,  to  assist  them 
in  maintaining  their  public  road  system. 

Fifth. — That  each  township  elect  three  road  supervisors  or 
commissioners,  who  shall  appoint  an  engineer  to  construct  and 
repair  the  roads.  That  in  each  county  the  county  commissioners 
shall  constitute  a  board  of  control,  who  shall  appoint  a  trained 
civil  engineer  to  carry  on  the  work  of  construction.  And  that 
the  Governor  shall  appoint  a  State  engineer  or  supervisor,  with 
assistants,  if  necessary,  to  superintend  the  road  affairs  of  the 
State,  and  who  shall  constitute  the  head  of  the  public  road  de- 
partment. 

Sixth. — That  the  roads  of  the  State  be  divided  into  State, 
county,  and  township  roads  for  purposes  of  administration,  and 
that  a  road  map  be  made,  giving  full  information  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  soil  and  condition  of  the  roads  of  the  State,  for  the  use 
of  travelers,  road  engineers,  and  for  educational  purposes. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


THIRD  PRIZE  PAPER.     No.  25. 

BY 

JAMES  B.  OLCOTT, 

South  Manchester,  Connecticut. 


Nothing  good  is  new  in  road  making  except  through  more 
perfect  understanding  of  localities,  materials  and  implements. 
But  as  we  are  born  ignorant,  and  liable  to  deceive  ourselves,  or 
be  cheated,  fresh  studies  of  the  situation  are  always  in  order — 
even  to  hold  what  we  know  already  for  daily  practice. 

The  common  road  problem  before  the  American  people  may 
be  stated  briefly  in  this  way :  With  hastily  constructed  cities 
and  exhausted  agricultural  districts,  to  make  the  best  wheeling 
possible  for  every  citizen. 

A  republic,  for  such  a  task,  must  have  all  its  energies,  mental 
and  physical,  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  enormous  labor.  Its 
roads  are  the  grandest  concern  of  a  nation. 

Comparing  the  body  politic  with  the  human  organism,  it  is 
as  if  the  ducts  of  the  system  were  to  be  reconstructed  of  fresh 
substance  by  slow  processes  of  healthy  assimilation.  Or  as  if 
the  redundant  railway  life  of  the  nation  were  now  being  stren- 
uously injected  into  every  common  road  fibre  of  the  country. 
Shall  we  longer  waste  our  lives  in  varicose  practices  in  the 
urgent  road  question  of  to-day. 

The  argument  of  this  paper  supports  stone,  broken  small, 
as  the  cheap,  native  flooring  for  the  best  common  roads;  all 
spaces  to  be  filled  solid  with  the  same  material,  roof  tight  and 
water  shedding  over  dry  foundations. 

It  will  maintain  that  a  layer  of  clean  sand  or  clean,  fine 
gravel  is  better  and  sometimes  cheaper  than  broken  rock  for 

8? 


83  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

firm  foundations  on  thoroughly  drained  clay,  or  upon  thoroughly 
drained  earths,  that  are  liable  to  move  by  water  and  frost  like 
clay. 

It  will  urge  the  use  of  broad-tired  carts  for  delivering  fresh 
road  metal  upon  itself,  as  the  readiest,  indispensable  and  common 
sense  method  for  compacting  a  highway  to  a  feasible  finish  at 
once. 

It  will  permit  surplus  rock  filling  in  the  roadbed  of  any  size 
or  shape,  provided  the  coarse  material  be  laid  below  all  chance 
of  wheel  friction  and  is  immovably  bedded  in  sand,  gravel,  or 
the  equivalent  as  regards  water  and  frost. 

It  will  point  with  scorn  at  the  old  and  new  absurdity  of 
stuffing  bottomless  holes  in  the  road  with  broken  stone,  under 
the  plea  of  "maintenance,"  as  one  of  the  howling  disgraces  of 
American  engineering,  and  endeavor  to  show  how  to  do  better. 

The  whole  tone  of  this  paper  is  a  protest  against  our  gene- 
ral ignorance  in  the  art  of  common  road  making,  and  a  plea  for 
popular  education  and  special  training. 

Much  road  legislation  would  be  premature,  and  large  high- 
way enterprises  unwise  till  something  like  public  faith  is  estab- 
lished, invisible  assurrances,  that  the  best,  not  merely  better,  roads 
can  be  built  on  a  small  scale  in  the  first  place.  By  best  roads 
we  mean  the  best  for  the  cost,  materials  and  circumstances. 

Little  or  nothing  of  surveying  or  formal  engineering  is 
attempted  in  this  paper,  because  it  designs  to  be  fullest  in  regard 
to  the  internal  structure  and  security  of  road  material  in  the 
highway.  Nice  and  exact  details  or  forms  to  be  fit  must  be  strict 
local  affairs  in  each  case.  All  the  States  need  topographic  sur- 
veys and  maps  for  the  better  guidance  of  all  the  people. 
Governments  are  too  ignorant  to  govern  properly.  Good  road 
work  cannot  be  made  by  the  yard  at  some  grand  centre  for 
transportation,  but  must  be  done  to  measure  on  the  spot.  We 
shall  be  very  fortunate  if  we  can  convey  better  ideas  of  road 
making  to  all  the  people  and  set  them  to  thinking  for  themselves. 

In  beginning  our  inquiries,  it  is  pertinent  to  ask  if  our  rail- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  89 

way  education  has  not  had  much  to  do  with  our  common  road 
thoughts  and  practices  ?  What  must  be  the  effect  on  the  rising 
minds  of  the  nation  of  laying  thousands  of  miles  of  iron  and 
steel  roads  upon  wooden  sleepers?  What  else  is  it  but  an 
extravagant  example  of  building  for  the  sake  of  speed  on 
rapidly  decaying  foundations?  Punished  with  the  running 
expenses  of  those  transient  roads,  why  should  we  shudder  at  the 
cost  of  stone  roads  of  an  imperishable  character?  And  why 
dare  we  not  think  of  steam  traction  on  the  best  stone  roads  ? 
Let  us  take  courage  and  look  the  facts  of  our  time  in  the  face 
as  our  fathers  did  before  us. 

Accurate  calculation  and  elaborate  plans — on  paper — go 
for  nothing,  while  the  actual  handling  of  road  metal  and  laying 
it  in  the  highway  is  left  to  unwitting  and  careless  men  whose 
only  stake  in  the  result  comes  from  the  nearsighted  notion  or 
general  "principle"  that  botched  jobs  for  a  misguided  public 
will  insure  them  continuous  employment.  Road  making  suffers, 
now,  in  the  hands  of  real  estate  speculators,  political  managers, 
street  contractors  and  semi-pauper  laborers  armed  with  votes 
instead  of  their  own  road  tools  and  technical  training,  as  play 
acting  suffered  while  honors  and  profits  were  consumed  by  one 
or  two  star  performers,  and  the  all-important  details  dragged  in 
the  hands  of  beggarly  supernumeraries. 

Perfunctory  formality  is  the  ruin  of  much  of  our  road  mak- 
ing, while  improvements  of  form  in  our  rural  districts  are  unde- 
niably needed.  The  huge  four-horse  road-scrapers,  dragged 
through  the  country,  are  doing  grand  educational  service  by 
teaching  the  American  people  the  inevitable  lesson  of  form. 
They  give  practical  demonstrations,  and  cultivate  the  popular 
eye  as  to  what  the  proper  grade  and  shape  of  the  highway  may 
and  must  be.  The  view  formerly  held  that  gutter-wash  makes 
desirable  wheeling  when  ridged  up  for  open  winters,  is  gradu- 
ally yielding  to  the  missionary  work  of  these  effective  machines. 

Ideas  of  fitness,  relative  cheapness  and  durability  of  various 
substances  in  the  roadbed,  are  later  developments  in  the  con- 


QO  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

sciousness  of  society.  Every  citizen — like  the  farmer  in  the  old 
reading  book,  who  found  a  boy  in  his  apple  tree — will  be  glad  to 
try  the  virtue  in  stones  after  he  has  fully  proven  the  insufficiency  1 
of  turf.  Yet  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  grass  can  be 
made  very  useful  in  shedding  water  and  preventing  dust  and 
mud  along  the  sides  and  gutters  of  a  highway.  Statutes  are 
about  the  last  thing  to  show  that  comfort  is  good  law  for  men 
and  animals. 

The  science  of  roads  grows  out  of  the  industrial  earth 
during  long  evolutionary  periods.  We  who  believe  in  stone  for 
heavy  traffic,  must  be  patient  with  communities  trained  irom 
father  to  son  in  throwing  every  stone  out  of  the  loam  road. 
They  can't  be  expected  to  reverse  that  process  and  put 'hard- 
earned  money  into  pulverized  rock  in  a  minute.  Earthen  roads 
are  great  luxuries  to  tender-feet  horses,  and  invalids  find  the 
rumble  of  stone  rather  wearing,  or  positively  injurious. 

Some  of  our  wealthiest  rural  districts  are  yet  struggling 
with  compromise  notions,  mingling  earth  and  stones  together, 
not  thinking  that  these  might  be  nicely  served  separately  on 
parallel  sides  of  the  highway ;  or  that  a  perfectly  smooth,  rotund, 
solid  rock  road  can  be  dressed  with  loam  for  the  Summer  season. 
What  is  meant  here  by  the  word  solid  will  appear  later. 

The  sorry  mistake  is  too  often  made  of  ridging  up  gutter- 
mud  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  build  a  solid  road  of  rough  broken 
stone  on  top  of  that.  Remains  of  crude  country  adulterations 
often  show  in  venal  or  ignorant  city  and  village  practices.  Rock 
roads,  in  the  first  dawn  of  urban  intelligence,  seem  chiefly  am- 
bitious of  being  rough  enough  with  cobble-stone  pavement,  to 
multiply  the  rattling,  roaring  echoes  of  growing  business. 

Ages  of  road  wallowing  and  shirking  over  frozen  ruts  are 
required  to  teach  the  whole  of  any  stick-in-the-mud  generation  to 
unite  in  thorough  work  to  better  themselves.  Results  in  cities 
are  nowhere  so  lovely  as  to  give  the  country  entire  confidence  in 
city  engineering.  We  are  not  yet  done  digging  arts  and  laws 
from  the  mistaken  foundations  of  ruined  empires  and  copying 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  91 

them !  That  is  like  sending  our  business  circulars  to  the  list  of 
advertised  letters !  When  shall  we  learn  that  every  seedling 
generation  of  wise  parentage  has  a  right  to  vary  and  become 
happier  in  its  circumstances  ?  When  that  the  epitaph  of  every 
defunct  nation  may  be  :  "Killed  by  its  government."  In  their 
eagerness  to  bring  all  traffic  and  labor  within  their  own  limits, 
municipalities  have  not  seen  clearly  that  the  maintenance  of 
roads  depends  altogether  on  how  they  are  built  to  begin  with. 

There  is  no  question  but  the  best  roads  would  double  the 
value  of  farms  as  fast  as  we  can  agree  to  build  them  right.  But 
farmers  who  have  seen  their  landed  property  depreciated  by  the 
over  issue  of  securities,  till  impoverished  land  has  become,  North 
and  South,  East  and  West,  like  the  wild-cat  money  nobody 
wanted — will  not  be  enthusiastic  for  roads  they  alone  are  to  be 
taxed  for.  Go  show  an  old  farmer  your  cities — the  very  bright- 
est and  best  of  them — and  then  go  with  him  and  let  him  show 
you  the  sources  of  city  "prosperity"  in  the  country.  'Twill 
take  long  journeys  to  find  the  whole  of  it,  but  the  facts  are  man- 
ifest. For  every  dollar  of  permanent  city  value  you  have  exhib- 
ited, he  will  shake  his  whip  at  country  places  robbed  of  two, 
five  and  ten  dollars  since  we  took  the  land  from  the  Indians. 
Let  there  be  no  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  his  wife,  in  the  new  legal 
arrangements  for  road  making.  Common  roads  are  the  visible 
bonds  of  the  Commonwealth.  They  are  of  and  for  the  State ;  as 
much  as  the  State  House  itself;  are  not  so  local  as  that  is,  and 
should  be  paid  for  by  the  State,  as  that  was.  Where  else  so 
level  and  just  can  the  doctrine  of  eminent  domain  come  in  ? 

The  idea  that  a  road  needs  a  foundation  as  firm,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  weight  and  thrust  of  vehicles  and  the  business  done 
upon  it  as  a  house,  is  one  of  the  last  to  enter  our  calculations. 
We  accept  stone-road  work  for  heavy  traffic,  and  the  wrenching 
gauge  of  loaded  wheels,  that  no  reputable  builder  or  careful 
farmer  would  take  a  linear  perch  of  to  under-pin  a  pig  stye. 
We  have  required  millions  of  failures  on  every  hand  to  make  us 
see  the  futility  and  waste  of  our  road  work.  The  constant  fact 


92  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

that  every  particle  of  settlement  in  the  bottom  of  a  road  pro- 
duces a  corresponding  dislocation  of  the  finished  surface,  is  very 
slow  to  lodge  in  our  minds.  Do  our  friends,  the  wheelmen,  really 
know  that  yet?  Every  woman  and  child  in  the  land  should  have 
the  fact  explained  to  them  at  once. 

The  other  and  cognate  idea,  that  to  make  roads  wear 
smoothly  even  when  foundations  are  solid — the  substance  of  the 
road,  ever  to  be  exposed  to  friction,  must  be  of  one  uniform  text- 
ure and  quality,  thoroughly  compacted,  is  not  appreciated,  even 
in  engineering  circles.  Stone  and  wood  and  stone  and  brick 
roads  are  too  often  commended.  Cape  Cod  sand  furnishes 
smooth  wheeling  in  the  bottom  of  its  ruts,  because  of  its  uniform 
quality. 

A  third  conception,  equally  vital  to  the  integrity  of  the  best 
road  work  in  any  climate,  grows  naturally  out  of  the  two  fore- 
going ideas  as  stated.  With  an  unyielding  bottom  and  a  super- 
structure of  homogeneous  crushed  rock,  leaving  no  crevices  or 
particles  not  in  solid  contact,  we  may  have  a  rounded  surface 
practically  impervious  to  water.  Shutting  out  water,  the  great 
destructive  element,  fluid  or  in  the  form  of  ice,  lessens  immensely 
the  cost  of  maintenance. 

If  there  is  such  a  thing  as  chemical  adhesion  in  the  sub- 
stance of  a  well-built  road,  surely  all  chance  of  that  desirable 
consummation  will  be  lost  if  it  is  made,  as  we  often  see  it  done, 
so  as  to  be  only  a  percolating  arrangement  for  all  the  water 
falling  upon  it. 

Ideally  perfect  stone  road  construction  is  rarely  or  never 
reached.  We  have  not  been  looking  in  the  right  direction  for 
that  in  recent  years.  Only  by  accident,  or  after  considerable 
periods  of  time,  by  re-surfacing  and  patching  (never  so  perfect 
as  original  work  may  be),  is  here  and  there  a  chance  for  closer 
observers  than  ordinary  to  correct  their  theories  of  construction 
by  actual  facts.  Our  many  blunders  involve  the  disgrace  and  ill- 
repute  of  broken  stone  roads  with  chronic  disgust  or  lack  of  desire 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  93 

for  questionable  street  improvements  among  those  who  might  other- 
wise be  glad  to  pay  for  them. 

How  often  have  we  told  somebody,  with  ineffable  sapience, 
that  "  to  dry  up  your  mud  and  water  on  a  road  you  must  have 
some  even-sized  stone  dumped  or  spread  upon  it  ?"  Dare  we 
convey  that  "principle  "  into  the  kitchen  or  laundry  as  a  remedy 
for  sloppy  floors  ?  Or  tell  it  to  the  "marines"  even,  who  are  not 
supposed  to  realize  the  rotundity  of  ships'  decks  and  the  use  of 
lee-scuppers  ?  The  smallest  urchin  knows  now  that  a  glass  of 
water  will  hold  a  tumblerfull  of  nails,  and  French  engineers 
decided  generations  since  that  a  cubic  yard  of  "even-sized 
stone  "  would  hold  half  a  cubic  yard  of  water  ! 

Again,  look  at  our  frequent  "  nice  "  recipes  for  laying  up  a 
highway  with  strata  of  stone  in  different  sizes,  growing  smaller 
and  smaller  toward  the  top.  Our  theory  of  these  layers  of  stone 
in  diminuendo — if  we  have  any — must  be  that  they  will  shut 
together  solid  with  a  sort  of  telescopic  effect,  when  we  come  to 
load  them.  In  practice  these  different  strata  of  "  even-sized  " 
stone,  each  layer  smaller  toward  the  top,  do  "telescope  "  under 
the  concussions  of  wheels,  as  trains  of  cars  "telescope"  in 
ruins  when  they  come  in  collision.  Friction  is  too  excessive  to 
make  the  telescoping  satisfactory,  and  a  segment  of  the  moon 
to  roll  the  stratified  road  stone  could  only  pulverize  or  crush  it 
into  mud  all  the  sooner. 

By  the  negligence  and  unfaithfulness  of  stoneworkers 
themselves,  who  build  roads  that  are  penances  to  travel  on,  far 
more  costly  and  less  durable  road  materials  have  been'  foisted 
upon  confused  communities,  damaging  true  engineering  science 
in  popular  estimation.  The  worst  counterfeit  is  the  closest 
imitation  of  the  genuine  metal. 

Whenever  we  have  constructed  a  water-proof  road,  or  one 
that  directly  becomes  so  by  the  attrition  of  travel,  we  find  we 
have  done  away  with  a  part  of  the  need  for  under-drainage,  or 
rather,  insured  against  faults  in  that  very  important  particular. 
In  crowded  communities  sanitary  considerations  must  enter  into 


94  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

road  construction.  We  don't  want  street  filth  leaching  into 
cellars.  A  highway  that  sheds  water  perfectly — instead  of 
leaking  like  a  riddle — is  rid  of  its  worst  enemy,  and  has  the  cost 
of  repairs  reduced  to  the  lowest  terms.  The  wear  of  surfaces 
will  depend,  then,  on  the  amount  and  kind  of  travel  and  the 
nature  of  the  material  composing  the  road. 

There  is  no  reason,  except  in  our  minds  and  ways  of  think- 
ing, why  we  can't  have  water-shedding  roads  of  broken  stone. 
A  rock-crusher  would  smile  grimly  at  the  difficulty  of  furnishing 
coarse  and  fine  material  together  in  fit  proportions,  to  puddle 
solid  under  water.  "  But  that  would  shrink  our  measure,"  it 
would  say.  "  You'll  have  to  talk  with  the  boss  about  that."  It 
would  laugh  at  the  notion  that  it  can't  bite  rock  fine  enough  to 
fill  its  own  interstices.  The  only  obstacle  is  in  the  way  we  have 
made  it  screen  and  assort  road  metal,  while  laboring  under  the 
too  easy  mistake  that  "  porous  "  stone  road  work  is  desirable. 

Right  here  let  us  moisten  our  subject  and  ease  our  minds 
by  considering  drainage.  It  is  the  first  law  of  road  making. 
Let  us  hang  up  to  ridicule  all  the  authority  in  the  land  for  not 
obeying  it. 

A  certain  eminent  engineer  was  talking  with  B — ,  of  L- — , 
concerning  the  road  bottoms  of  the  latter's  native  town.  "  Our 
roads,"  said  B — ,  "look  as  innocent  and  quiet  as  a  pan  of  milk 
with  the  cream  on  just  now.  My  grandfather  said  they  changed 
pretty  quick  after  the  hemlock  roots  rotted  out  of  the  ground. 
There  was  a  long  loop  of  road  going  around  —  Hill,  which 
sagged,  stump  fences  and  all,  more  than  four  rods  from  the  orig- 
inal survey,  without  making  a  break  in  the  land  anywhere.  In 
Spring  this  very  same  nice  road  we  are  on  acts  as  if  it  were  all 
afloat,  in  great  junks  like  rafts,  five  feet  deep.  The  water  in 
the  ditches  and  in  every  puddle  will  wink,  the  bushes  will  nod  at 
you  and  rails  tumble  out  of  the  fences  with  every  step  of  your 
team.  The  whole  highway  dangles  like  a  slack  rope  or  a  ham- 
mock swinging.  It's  going  to  take  something  more  than  figur- 
ing to  fix  this  road  solid.  When  it  is  all  jelly  in  April  it  will 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

swallow  forty  thousand  loads  of  stone  to  the  mile,  without  leav- 
ing a  sign  of  where  they  went  to,  except  by  shoving  the  adjoin- 
ing turf  a  little !" 

Here  was  an  arable  soil  of  the  finest  quicksand,  several  feet 
deep,  based  on  the  toughest  blue  clay ;  both,  when  sprung  by 
frost,  capable  of  holding  immense  quantities  of  water.  The 
ancient  road  cut,  deepened  by  wearing,  acted  as  a  sluice  for 
adjoining  fields  and  hills.  The  old  plan  for  navigating  that 
sort  of  a  road  in  Spring,  when  the  legs  of  horses  and  oxen  are 
in  the  way,  and  something  of  the  stone-boat  order  of  vehicle, 
with  a  team  of  wriggling  amphibia  for  draft  purposes,  would 
naturally  be  suggested,  was  to  use  brush  upon  it,  as  Capt.  Eads 
curbed  the  Mississipi  River  with  brush,  or  else  thorough  drain 
the  whole  broad  highway,  laying  what  is  not  stoned  down  to 
fine  grass.  An  engineer  worth  his  salt,  seeing  that  road  shak- 
ing in  April,  would  advise  applying  the  alder  and  maple  bushes 
from  the  abundant  hedge  rows  as  the  most  scientific  temporary 
measure,  precisely  as  that  farm  community  had  relied  on  brush 
for  generations  to  carry  them  safely  over  the  worst  places. 

But  as  populations  increase,  grow  wealthy  and  impatient  of 
wise  rustic  proceedings,  some  cheap  botch  who  doesn't  think,  gets 
a  cash  job  under  stupid  contract  from  the  public  who  don't 
think,  to  drain  that  shaky  road  with  tile  or  stone.  After  the 
money  is  gone  with  the  brush  and  the  handy  men  who  made 
light  work  of  applying  it,  somebody  discovers  that  the  so-called 
drainage  is  no  good,  for  the  tile  or  stone  drains  are  packed 
choke-full  of  that  most  insinuating  clay  and  quicksand  silt. 
Energetic  authorities,  with  more  muscle  than  brains,  often  have 
such  jobs  done  several  times  over  without  odium,  before  any 
one — perhaps  a  woman  who  thinks — happens  to  hear  of  the 
trouble  and  suggests  vegetable  fiber  (from  stopping  her  leaky 
dish-pan  for  the  nonce  with  a  shred  of  rag)  to  pack  the  tiles  in  ; 
then  civilization  moves  on,  using  marsh  hay,  eel  grass,  forest 
leaves,  waste  cotton,  or  peat  moss  imported  from  Germany,  to 
cover  the  joints  of  the  tile  carefully  laid  on  plank.  A  line  of 


96  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

tiles  beneath  the  bottom  of  each  roadside  ditch,  and  one  or  two 
parallel  lines  draining  into  the  others  from  the  body  of  the  high- 
way, may  be  the  cheapest  first  step  for  the  improvement  of 
roadbeds  that  are  sure  to  be  quaking  quagmires  at  certain  seas- 
ons. It  might  be  the  height  of  foolishness  to  let  such  jobs  to 
the  lowest  bidder. 

Stone  men,  from  the  time  of  the  stone  ages,  will  not  live  up 
to  their  present  opportunities  until  they  rid  themselves  of  the 
utterly  vicious  conception  that  leaching  water  through  their 
finished  road  work  is  permissible.  That  is  bastard  drainage — 
blind  drainage — the  kind  that  would  try  to  pump  the  sea  dry 
with  the  water  running  back  into  it. 

If  we  will  not  see  the  danger  to  health  in  crowded  popula- 
tions by  the  washing  of  infected  filth  against  the  foundations 
of  dwellings ;  if  we  do  not  see  the  certainty  of  our  work  being 
shaken  by  frost  over  a  saturated  subsoil,  then  we  shall  be  made 
to  see  and  feel  the  competition  of  our  enterprising  brethren  of 
the  asphalt  persuasion,  who  in  theory  and  practice  roof  their 
foundations  water-tight,  and  make  us  pay  dearly  for  no  risks  in 
the  above  vital  particulars. 

Stone  road  work,  no  matter  what  name  we  give  it,  must  be 
made  solid  and  impervious  to  water  and  frost,  and  remain  so 
throughout  the  year.  We  crush  stone,  not  for  the  purpose  of 
providing  porous  drainage  layers  in  the  roadbed,  but  for  the 
convenience  of  handling  and  laying  the  unequally  granulated 
rock  clean  and  solid  as  rock  again,  in  the  desired  form  and  place 
of  the  stone  highway,  then  to  wear  smoothly  and  only  from  the 
top,  for  indefinite  periods  of  time,  like  the  tire  of  a  wagon,  the 
iron  of  railways,  or  the  original  rock  itself. 

The  rotund  portion  of  a  broken  stone  road  should  be  capa- 
ble of  wearing  handsomely  and  without  ruts  or  roughness,  till 
by  the  slow  friction  of  travel  and  the  crushing  of  loaded  wheels 
it  is  worn  flat  and  dishing,  and  the  dust  of  it  is  blown  or  washed 
entirely  away  as  arable  soil,  fit  for  the  uses  of  tillage.  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  should  come  the  labor  of  renewal  in  precisely 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  97 

the  same  manner  in  which  the  road  was  first  built,  unless  by 
that  time  the  chemistry  of  rock  making  is  better  understood. 
We  ought  to  rediscover  the  not  long  lost  art  of  chimney-top 
mortar.  Mortar  making,  except  in  the  plastic  stages  of  mud  in 
the  highway,  is  so  little  known  in  engineering  science  now, 
that  flying  brickbats  from  crumbling  chimneys  make  a  consid- 
erable difference  in  death  rates.  Ordinary  farm  builders  used 
to  do  better.  Once  let  the  nation  conceive  the  idea  of  solid 
rock  roads  for  everybody,  and  by  the  scientific  use  of  fit  min- 
erals they  will  become  more  and  more  common  everywhere. 

Having  so  adapted  machinery  to  the  road  business  that 
highway  metal  to  fill  its  own  interstices  can  be  procured  in 
any  quantity,  and  so  instructed  and  equipped  labor  as  to  supply 
all  deficiencies  in  the  grain  of  the  material,  our  next  care  in 
this  paper  is  to  show  how  it  can  be  consolidated  in  the  roadbed. 
In  this  respect  current  science  and  mechanics  are  deplorably 
at  fault,  and  taxpayers,  blinded  by  surface  finishers,  stupidly 
see  little  or  nothing  of  the  costly  and  insulting  jokes  played  on 
them  by  quack  road  contractors  and  engineers. 

Before  we  proceed,  however,  let  us  consider  a  few  words 
from  one  of  the  old  masters,  whose  language  is  by  no  means 
obsolete,  whose  name  has  become  one  of  our  most  familiar 
parts  of  speech  in  connection  with  our  subject,  but  whose 
ideas,  in  their  purity  and  exactness,  are  rarely  or  never  applied 
to  road  making. 

John  Loudon  MacAdam,  after  spending  some  part  of  his 
youth  in  the  United  States,  returned  to  the  place  of  his  nativity 
in  Scotland,  and,  turning  his  attention  to  making  good  roads, 
shortly  became  famous  in  his  own  country,  and  afterward  all 
over  the  world.  It  is  said  that  of  the  30,000  miles  of  roads  in 
Great  Britain  five-sixths  of  them  were  reorganized  in  his  name 
during  his  life.  He  saw  the  opportunity  of  his  time.  British 
roads  had  been  stuffed  for  years,  by  local  authority,  with  all 
sorts  of  stone,  dumped  in  roughly  and  often  unbroken,  till 
traveling  with  comfort  was  no  longer  possible  at  any  seasoa 
7 


98  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

He  declined  being  called  an  engineer.  ^  Are  you  aprofessional 
engineer?"  "No")  He  was  a  road  maker,  developed  in  time 
of  great  need.  Instead  of  three-fourths  team-work,  as  had  been, 
his  bills  showed  three-fourths  labor.  We  can  guess  what  a  row 
that  change  would  raise.  But  he  revolutionized  the  whole  busi- 
ness of  road  making,  by  showing  anybody — even  women  and 
children,  who  could  pick  the  rough  stones  out  of  the  road,  break 
them,  and  lay  the  fine  fragments  back  again  nicely — how  to 
make  the  best  of  wheeling — sometimes  with  half  the  old  mate- 
rial. We,  by  the  force  of  false  profits  and  so-called  "  civil  engi- 
neers," with  "prize  essays"  and  much  obsolete  stereotyping  in 
"patent  insides  and  outsides,"  are  actually  copying  the  old  road 
bottoms  Mac  Adam  (compelled  by  the  penuriousness  and  jeal- 
ousies of  his  time)  left  behind  him.  We  are  like  the  too  literal 
Chinese  tailor,  who  reproduced  every  patch  on  the  commodore's 
sample  trowsers  in  three  dozen  pairs  of  new  breeches  !  Mac- 
Adam's  methods — or  what  were  said  to  be  his — spread  like 
wildfire,  however,  and,  doubtless,  much  was  done,  not  as  he 
would  have  it,  then  as  now.  Hear  him  and  weigh  his  strange 
words  well.  After  insisting  upon  draining  the  roadbed,  wher- 
ever that  is  necessary,  he  says  : 

"  The  broken  stone  is  only  to  preserve  the  under  road  from 
moisture,  and  not  at  all  to  support  the  vehicles,  the  weight  of 
which  must  be  really  borne  by  the  native  soil,  which,  while 
preserved  dry,  will  carry  any  weight,  and  does,  in  fact,  carry 
the  stone  road  itself  as  well  as  the  vehicles  upon  it." 

Again :  "  The  stone  is  employed  to  form  a  secure,  smooth, 
water-tight  flooring,  over  which  vehicles  may  pass  with  safety 
and  expedition  at  all  seasons  of  the  year." 

And  again  :  "  Its  thickness  should  be  regulated  only  by  the 
quantity  of  material  necessary  to  form  such  a  flooring,  and  not 
at  all  by  any  consideration  as  to  its  own  independent  power  of 
bearing  weight." 

The  offices  of  the  stone  are  to  endure  friction  and  shed 
water. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  99 

And  still  again  :  "  The  erroneous  idea  that  the  evils  of  an 
underdrained,  wet,  clayey  soil  can  be  remedied  by  a  large  quan- 
tity of  materials  has  caused  a  large  part  of  the  costly  and 
tmsuccessfzd  expenditures  in  making  broken-stone  roads."1 

Evidently,  there  were  parties  before  MacAdam's  time  who 
found  their  account  in  furnishing  "large  quantities"  of  stone 
to  dump  on  the  highway.  Can  we  doubt,  if  he  were  among  us 
to-day,  that  he  would  order  up  much  of  our  work  to  be  broken 
over  and  relaid,  solid  and  clean,  on  a  dry  foundation  ? 

This  Mac  Adam  was  essentially  a  teacher.  He  had  purified 
his  language  by  conversation  with  simple-minded  people  whose 
words  must  be  few  and  well  chosen.  He  set  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  needy  laborers  at  work — entire  families  of  cot- 
tagers— right  at  their  doors.  No  doubt,  he  learned  much  of 
them.  How  could  he  be  expected  to  teach  an  old  laborer  that 
hammered  stone,  at  ten  pence  per  ton,  would  furnish  the  sharp- 
est kind  of  gravel,  fit  to  rust  and  cling  into  rock  when  once 
every  particle  is  well  set  and  bedded  solid  in  a  road  ?  British 
labor,  at  that  time,  was  born  to  that  knowledge,  and  the  secret 
of  MacAdam's  popularity  was  that  he  understood  it  better  than 
its  recent  masters,  who  were  being  taught,  rather  against  their 
wills,  how  to  make  a  road. 

Every  wayside  in  England  was  a  school  for  the  English 
middle  and  upper  classes  in  those  days,  and  there  are  signs  in 
the  literature  of  that  period  that  many  would-be-leaders  hated 
this  man  MacAdam  who  presumed  to  come  between  misguided 
labor  and  themselves.  They  took  honors  and  emoluments  by 
prescription.  He  would  not  accept  a  baronetcy,  and  until  old 
and  impoverished  by  his  patriotic  exertions  he  refused  the  ;£6,ooo 
voted  him  by  parliament.  Too  well  known  to  be  hung  for  dis- 
puting the  doctors,  the  heroic  face2  and  life  of  this  great  Scotch- 
man are  singular  appearances  in  the  world's  road  history. 

1  These  extracts  appear  in  Gillespie's  "  Roads  and  Railroads,"  1858,  and  are  either 
adaptations  from  MacAdam  or  taken  from  some  essay  this  present  writer  has  not  seen. 
2  See  Harper's  Weekly  of  August  loth,  1889,  for  portraits  of  MacAdam  and  Telford. 


ioo  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

His  good  work  wore  out  after  awhile.  His  few  and  brief 
writings  were  never  reprinted  in  this  country.  Not  much  that 
he  said  is  ever  mentioned — or  is  covered  with  elaborately  spun 
sophistries — and  the  art  which  McAdam  left  so  simple  that  no 
one,  even  though  an  engineer,  might  err  therein  (with  intelligent 
labor  watching),  has  become  so  abstruse  that  nobody  under- 
stands it. 

One  who  has  been  sampling  foreign  roads  with  a  bicycle1 — 
and  perhaps  with  his  head  and  shoulders — says  there  is  not  a  foot 
of  well-kept  public  road  in  all  England.  Iron  roads  have  taken  the 
attention  of  British  managers  since  MacAdam  set  the  common 
people  to  engineering  their  own  roads. 

A  single  sentence  of  the  great  road  maker  is  often  quoted 
but  never  explained  and  probably  never  understood : 

"  The  stone  must  not  be  laid  on  in  shovelfuls,  but  scattered 
over  the  surface,  one  shovelful  following  another,  and  spreading 
over  a  considerable  space."2 

Applied  literally  to  our  machine  road  work  that  saying 
would  be  nonsense.  Our  road  metal  is  of  a  uniform  quality  of 
rock,  is  broken  and  screened  in  uniform  sizes.  There  would  be 
no  sense  in  spreading  that  assorted  rock  carefully  from  the  cart 
like  manure,  yet  that  is  precisely  what  you  see  going  on.  If 
you  say  anything  you  will  find  that  you  have  touched  an  "  ark" 
of  the  craft  that  has  survived  long  after  its  general  usefulness 
has  passed  away.  The  gosling  engineer  found  it  in  his  text- 
book, his  tutor  did  not  explain  its  old  significance  in  handicraft 
and  heterogeneous  rock  breaking;  the  American  workman  finds 
no  one  appealing  to  his  reason  or  better  common  sense;  the 
slow  spreading  motion  suits  his  chronic  complaint,  and  is 
retained  as  a  part  of  the  grip  of  the  "Old  Man  of  the  Sea" 
astride  of  our  necks  to-day.  Like  master,  like  man  in  road 
making. 

Every  motion  MacAdam  made  grew  out  of  facts  in  his  expe- 

*Mr.  Fennel,  in  Harper's  Weekly  of  August  25th,  1889. 
a  London's  Cyclop-  of  Agriculture. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  101 

rience.  His  rocks  were  not  uniform,  but  of  all  qualities  as 
gathered  from  adjoining  fields  ;  boulders  and  pebbles,  rounded, 
of  quartz,  flint  and  sandstone ;  tough,  "  greasy,"  hard-heads, 
rejected  of  wall  building ;  limestone,  slaty  and  laminated  rock, 
harder  or  softer ;  everything  which  generations  of  thoughtless 
people  (treating  their  highways  as  rubbish  holes  as  we  have 
treated  ours)  had  turned  upon  the  public,  and  all  must  surfer  for 
MacAdam  had  to  contend  with  in  the  old  roads  he  ravelled,  shred- 
ded and  knit  over  again — or  the  gangs  of  workpeople  he  organ- 
ized did — and  left  consolidated  in  a  new,  smooth  fabric  behind 
them. 

He  said  reject  the  soft  stone.  He  would  have  no  more  clay 
or  loam  in  his  work  than  a  mason  will  have  in  his  mortar.  If 
he  ever  condemned  fine  stone  it  was  because  of  the  liability  in 
his  practice  of  its  being  mixed  with  earth.  But  how  could  he 
control  the  doings  on  25,000  miles  of  highway  ?  Some  ambi- 
tious urchin — a  great  engineer  in  after  life,  perhaps — would  catch 
up  his  mother's  hammer  while  she  was  gone  to  get  dinner  or 
supper  and  break  the  soft  rejected  stone  into  a  tidy  pile  for 
measurement.  Who  would  stop  him  ?  And  it  would  be  a  hard- 
hearted boss,  one  who  had  never  heard  the  text  about  "little 
children"  who  would  fail  to  tally  the  lad  a  penny  for  his  enter- 
prise. Indeed,  it  may  be  presumed  that  soft  stone  if  well 
mingled  with  harder  ones,  by  shrewd  and  rapid  workmen — none 
too  honest  then  as  now — were  continually  winked  at  as  inevi- 
table. But  each  shovelful  should  be  scattered  widely  so  that  no 
lumps  of  soft  stone  cotild  be  deposited  together.  So  our  labor  and 
our  text-books  are  burdened  with  the  more  trivial  pains  of 
MacAdam  when  the  circumstances  that  caused  them  are  obso- 
lete, and  while  his  weightier  matters  that  ought  still  to  be  in 
force  are  forgotten. 

How  long  shall  the  American  public  be  imposed  upon  by 
"  systems  "  too  absurd  to  bear  a  particle  of  analysis — that  have 
proven  themselves  no  better  than  road  ruts  for  laziness  and  in- 
difference to  jog  along  in  ?  When  Ruskin  threw  his  "  Seven 


102  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Lamps  of  Architecture  "  into  a  "  system,"  he  was  candid  enough 
to  say,  in  excuse  for  the  temporary  arrangement,  that  he  might 
have  had  eight,  nine  or  eleven  "  lamps  "  in  it.  Systems  are  like 
the  ruts  of  which  a  good  road  maker  is  ashamed.  Few  of  them 
will  bear  keeping  over  night ;  time  itself  and  the  magnetic  needle 
constantly  vary,  while  men  should  remain  true  to  the  shifting 
situation,  for  no  road  system  can  be  carried  across  the  country 
without  constant  adaptations  to  local  exigencies.  Fashions,  too, 
often  change  without  improvement,  or  we  should  have  road 
paragraphs  in  every  school  reading-book  like  this  one  of 
MacAdam's  : 

" In  every  road  I  have  been  obliged  to  alter  the  mode  of  man- 
agement, according  to  the  situation,  and  sometimes  according  to 
the  finances" 

No  pastry  cook  will  try  to  mash  raw  sugar — if  she  can  get 
any — with  a  rolling-pin,  while  knife,  fork,  spoon,  flour-duster 
and  paste-cutters  lie  in  the  way  on  her  moulding-board ;  but  some- 
thing very  like  that  is  what  we  see  trying  to  be  done  every 
day — "street  closed"  by  the  dignified  countermarchings  of  the 
steam  roller  over  open-work  bridges,  formed  by  rocks  of  all 
shapes,  cornering  together,  helter  skelter,  in  the  bottom  of  new 
city  street  work.  No  possible  weight  on  such  "rolling-pins" 
can  ever  make  that  cobbled  up  material  solid.  Only  by  passing 
this  stupidity  as  a  sacred  "  system,"  thoughtlessly  from  hand 
to  hand,  (like  the  big  stone  to  balance  the  grist  of  olden  times) 
could  the  foolishness  be  perpetuated.  The  ordinary  broad 
steam  roller  cannot  be  trusted  to  roll  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  of 
the  finer  mixed  crushed  rock  specified  in  this  paper,  water-tight. 
The  tread  of  these  roller-mills  is  too  wide.  It  is  not  roller-grind- 
ing that  we  need  for  loose  stone,  but  tamping,  treading  and  nar- 
rower rolling  in  the  process  of  settlement. 

Ask  a  caulker,  a  steam  piper,  the  dentist  who  fills  our  teeth, 
or  the  laborer  who  properly  packs  earth  and  gravel  beneath  a 
railway  sleeper  or  about  a  post  in  the  ground,  and  see  what  tools 
they  use  for  stuffing  and  solidifying  the  filling  of  crevices,  and 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  103 

we  shall  know  more  of  the  demands  of  rock-road  making,  where 
thousands  of  interstices  to  the  cubic  yard  are  to  be  made  solid. 

Skilled  workmen,  quick  to  notice  any  redundancy  or  lack  of 
fine  or  coarse  stone  in  the  texture  of  the  metal  as  delivered,  with 
lithe *  stone  hammers,  handy  as  whips,  for  cracking  a  few  stone 
upon  occasion,  and  pull  forks  adapted  to  the  shifting  and  reas- 
sortment  of  small  quantities  of  material,  will  be  ready  when  the 
science  of  rock-road  making  is  fully  understood. 

Whenever  a  wide-awake  public  makes  water-tight  stone 
roads  imperative  in  cities,  pipe  water  will  be  at  hand  to  wet  new 
work  and  facilitate  packing,  but  will  be  used  by  experts  with  cau- 
tion, to  avoid  carrying  rock  dust  downward  faster  than  it  is 
needed,  or  before  the  tread  of  broad  wheels  and  the  stirring  of 
the  feet  of  teams,  delivering  the  crushed  stone,  have  done  their 
appointed  work  in  thrusting  the  particles  of  the  whole  body  of 
material  into  their  fit  places  in  the  roadbed. 

Narrow  tires  have  no  use  in  road  work,  except  the  fill  is 
deep,  and  a  place  of  deposit  for  rubbish.  The  sulkies  of  the 
State  surveyors  general  should  be  shod  at  least  four  inches 
wide,  merely  for  church  going,  and  to  bring  the  good  fashion 
into  vogue. 

Dump  carts  with  broad  tires  are  much  the  best  for  deposit- 
ing stone  in  road  work.  Three  shafts  for  two  horses  is  an  old 
and  well-tested  rig  in  some  iron  mines.  With  all-leather  harness, 
this  constitutes  the  shortest  and  most  comfortable  strong  team  in 
existence.  Four-wheeled  dumps,  for  one  or  two  horses,  are  much 
used  in  certain  sections,  but  these  are  long  and  cumbersome. 
A  single  horse  cart  should  have  at  least  five-inch  tire  ;  two-horse 
dumps  six  to  eight-inch  tire.  Wagons,  with  scantling  bottoms, 
for  dropping  broken  stone  through  their  bodies,  if  admitted — 
which  is  doubtful  economy — should  have  rims  at  least  four 
inches  wide. 

There  is  nothing  new  about  broad-tired  carts  except  that  we 
can  build  better  ones  than  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  is  nar- 

1  No  need  to  harden  our  joints  with  stiff  handles. 


io4  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

row  tires  which  are  comparatively  new  and  were  ordered  by  the 
skinflint  calculator,  one-and-three-quarters  inch  wide,  to  cut  inside 
his  neighbor's  two-inch  ruts.  Broad  wheels,  sawn  from  logs,  are 
much  the  oldest,  quite  as  scientific,  and  recommended  by  the 
oldest  masters  of  agriculture  and  road  making.  Rome  governed 
and  skinned  the  known  world  with  broad-wheeled  ox  carts. 
MacAdam  was  perfectly  familiar  with  vehicles  of  six-inch  tread, 
but  had  small  use  for  team  work,  as  the  heft  of  carting  was 
already  done  for  the  botched  stone  roads  he  amended.  He 
ridiculed  the  pretensions  of  certain  clumsy  sixteen-inch  wheels 
built  in  his  time — conical,  half  dragging  mechanical  monstrosi- 
ties, full  of  spikes — as  unworthy  of  favor  by  turnpike  tolls. 
But  he  approved  the  level  tread  of  broad  tires. 

When  the  public  gets  sick  of  seeing  its  roads  cut  to  pieces 
by  heavy  freighting  on  narrow  tires,  disk-harrow  wheels  will  be 
driven  out  of  use  by  more  intelligent  and  scientific  fashions. 
Less  road  law  would  be  necessary  if  our  legislators  had  even 
seen  the  best  possible  roads,  or  the  tools  to  build  them. 

Whatever  the  road  is  made  of,  or  patched  with,  the  rolling 
weight  of  the  carted  material  should  always  be  used  to  harden 
the  new  work.  This  involves  beginning  at  the  end  nearest  the 
stonebreaker,  or  other  source  of  supply.  MacAdam's  quarry 
was  the  old  road,  and  he  broke  his  stone  at  the  side  of  it. 

Our  boys  and  girls  go  abroad  and  return  much  enamored 
of  the  frequent  little  depots  of  broken  stone  piled  neatly,  and 
v/ith  men  in  attendance,  by  the  roadside,  in  foreign  parts,  ready 
and  waiting  to  pounce  on  any  defects  in  the  wheeling.  Would 
this  "system"  be  such  a  lovely  addition  to  American  scenery 
that  we  need  to  hurry  about  transplanting  it,  with  all  that  it 
implies  ?  Either  European  roads  are  so  ill  constructed  that  they 
need  patching  too  quickly,  and  too  constantly,  or  the  suspicious 
preparations  are  needless.  Our  business  is  to  make  roads  so 
good  as  to  excite  the  curiosity  of  our  own  globe  trotters,  and  of 
travelers  from  abroad  as  well,  to  come  and  see  how  we  do  it  and 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  105 

help  pay  expenses.     Ten  thousand  times  more  American  money 
is  spent  on  foreign  roads  than  is  well  spent  upon  our  own. 

Instances  are  not  rare  of  miles  of  fair  country  road  being 
destroyed  by  narrow  tires  in  hauling  the  material  for  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  of  new  road  that  proves  a  disgrace  to  all  parties  when 
it  is  done.  Still  there  are  those  who  wish  to  be  continually  in 
authority  when  such  things  are  going  on  ! 

The  changes  indicated  in  running-gear  for  road  making  are 
all  such  as  would  be  better  for  farming  and  gardening  districts 
and  all  freighting  also,  aside  from  their  particular  application  to 
highway  work.  If  a  road  teamster  can't  haul  loads  over  his  own 
fills,  how  can  the  public  be  expected  to  do  it  ? 

When  once  the  material  for  the  best  stone  road  is  in  place, 
the  sooner  it  is  trampled  and  rolled  solid  the  better.  It  is 
because  broken  rock  needs  so  much  manipulation — shaking 
rather  than  grinding — to  bring  it  down  to  its  bearings,  while  the 
fresh  fractures  of  the  material  are  in  the  best  condition  to  stick 
and  hang  there,  that  road  teams  must  be  vigilant  and  constant 
in  this  service — never  following  each  other's  ruts,  but  covering 
every  inch  of  the  new  work,  going  and  returning,  with  their 
most  salutary  pressure,  which  does  not  crush  the  metals.  A  driver 
with  a  good  team  who  shirks  this  care  will  make  ruts  wherever 
he  drives.  Several  years'  apprenticeship  to  the  best  road  mak- 
ing would  be  a  very  fitting  introduction  to  general  team  work, 
hack  driving  and  private  coach  service,  for  it  is  our  teamsters 
and  drivers  who  will  make  or  mar  our  roads  ;  and  with  due  study 
out  of  these  might  grow  our  best  road  engineers. 

Except  for  the  broad  tires,  giving  lighter  draft  over  the  new 
material,  it  might  be  impossible  for  the  strongest  teams  to  fur- 
nish their  indispensable  assistance,  especially  when  the  new 
road  runs  up  hill.  The  alert  steam-roller  man  may  be  willing  to 
acknowledge  here  that  by  utilizing  the  power  of  teams,  now 
worse  than  wasted,  with  narrow  tires,  we  are  preparing  fields  for 
far  other  than  sham  exploits  by  his  machines,  where  they  may 
win  substantial  and  permanent  credit  in  the  last  triumphant 


106  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

polish  of  what  is  almost  solid.  Broken  stone  takes  so  much 
management  to  force,  coax  and  inveigle  the  unwilling  particles 
of  it  together  that  we  must  impress  every  pound  of  team  work 
into  the  service,  while  steam  rolling,  if  to  be  had,  will  apply 
later. 

Softer  places  and  ridges  are  covered  by  the  wheels  of  nicely 
driven  teams  returning  empty.  In  practice  there  is  no  difficulty 
about  this  team  rolling  method.  It  applies  perfectly  everywhere. 
Horse  owners  and  feeders  find  that  broad  tires  more  than  pay 
for  themselves  in  saving  oats  and  corn.  Animals  and  men  soon 
grow  skilled  in  their  work,  and  good  teamsters  take  honest  pride 
in  the  road  making  which  constantly  appeals  to  their  reason  and 
judgment,  leaving  all  but  the  latest  two  or  three  rods  of  its  pro- 
duct in  fit  condition  to  speed  a  horse  or  run  a  bicycle  upon. 
The  public  may  enjoy  this  kind  of  street  work  even  while  it  is 
going  on. 

Whenever  this  method  of  cart  rolling  new  road  work  is 
seen  to  be  in  exact  accord  with  highway  science  for  the  whole 
people,  then  we  shall  have  the  wheels  of  steam  rollers  cut  nar- 
rower and  breaking  joints  in  accord  with  it,  thus  making  their 
pressure  more  searching  and  effective.  If  it  is  possible  to  make  a 
dint  in  his  road  anywhere,  the  road-maker  himself  is  the  man  to 
find  that  out  by  proving  his  work  in  actual  use  and  rigid  test  as 
he  goes  along.  With  new  narrow-tread  steam  rollers  as  afore- 
said, and  force  enough,  it  will  be  possible  to  lay  down,  finished 
and  ironed  to  perfection,  long  stretches  of  solid  rock  road  in  a 
day,  or  in  the  night,  when  necessary  for  public  comfort.  Cur- 
rent calculations  of  the  broad  pressure  and  packing  effect  of 
the  common  steam  roller,  based  on  the  effect  of  its  superficies, 
are  enough  to  make  a  horse  laugh,  when  compared  to  the  punch- 
ing tread  of  the  road  cart  tire  with  a  ton  on  each  wheel ! 

In  the  country,  the  value  of  occasional  showers  will  be  felt 
in  road  making,  and  secured  by  every  nice  workman  in  putting 
the  finishing  touches  to  his  job.  As  it  is,  it  is  possible  that  a 
sudden  heavy  rain  on  raw  work  may  wash  fine  rock,  filling  dust 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  io7 

down  too  fast,  in  spite  of  the  best  management.  So  it  is  possi- 
sible,  as  such  places  will  show  plainly  when  the  sun  comes  out, 
to  supply  the  little  fine  material  to  make  good  the  deficiency. 
The  practice  of  robbing  the  internal  structure  of  a  stone  road 
of  its  full  proportion  of  intersticial  matter  for  the  sake  of  dress- 
ing the  surface,  is  vicious  in  both  ways.  Filling  and  packing 
should  proceed  contemporaneously.  As  soon  as  these  points 
are  thoroughly  appreciated,  and  the  minds  of  inventors  are  fixed 
upon  them,  we  may  expect  a  development  of  patent  compounds 
designed  to  facilitate  the  union  of  broken  stone  work  and  now 
impossible  by  reason  of  rude  and  dirty  ways  of  working.  Lime 
and  iron  were  suggested  by  road  engineers  many  years  ago.1 

Road  stone  differs  materially  in  different  sections  of  the 
country.  In  controlling  these  differences,  when  otherwise  they 
would  go  against  us,  more  opportunities  for  skill  and  dexterity 
will  occur  than  can  be  put  in  any  essay  or  book.  Some  persons 
live  long  and  useful  lives  and  die  very  much  regretted,  without 
having  learned  at  all  stages  of  temperature  to  spread  butter  on 
bread  handsomely.  It  is  highly  probable  that  some  few  people, 
even  if  they  try  hard  and  are  well  paid  for  doing  so,  will  never 
succeed  in  finishing  a  road  perfectly  and  with  dispatch.  Tom 
Hood's  old  florist,  who  was  "too  dry  "  or  "  too  wet "  herself 
when  her  plants  were  suffering,  might  have  been  the  mother  of 
road  makers,  sufficiently  sensitive  to  know  how  their  work  was 
going  on  without  being  told  of  it. 

After  a  road  is  done,  and  about  as  hard  as  it  ever  can  be, 
when  loads  of  stone  and  the  best  improved  narrow-wheeled 
steam  roller  fails  to  make  any  impression  on  it,  when  we  know 
that  all  the  inside  of  it  is  one  coherent  mass,  when  it  actually 
does  shed  water,  even  then  a  road  artist,  proud  as  the  skilled 
modern  surgeon,  of  healing  the  fairly  glazed  rock  surface  by 
"first  intention,"  may  wish  to  give  a  color  of  age  to  his  work. 
How  can  he  best  do  this  ?  By  adding  the  least  top-dressing — 
not  a  fourth  of  an  inch  anywhere,  for  it's  only  a  coat  of  mineral 

Engineer  Walker,  in  MacAdam  pamphlets. 


io8  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

paint — of  tough,  fine,  earthern  gravel  to  suit  his  complexion. 
This  is  but  a  varnish.  Perhaps  only  fleet  trotters  and  bicyclists, 
willing  to  save  their  rubbers  from  sharp  grit,  will  thank  him  for 
it.  This  is  the  way  to  give  age  at  once  to  a  bit  of  new  road.  // 
can  well  be  omitted,  for  this  is  all  the  excuse  there  ever  was  in 
the  best  stone  work  for  outside  "binding  material."  The  ap- 
parent need  of  that  follows  from  the  foolish  stealing  away  of 
stone  chips  from  the  body  of  the  road. 

What  is  said  here  of  dispatch  in  making  stone  road  work 
solid,  applies  to  all  material  used  in  road  making ;  whether  of 
sand,  turf,  earth,  loam,  gravel,  brickbats,  cobblestone,  old  mor- 
tar, coal  ashes,  furnace  slag,  sawdust,  tanbark,  shavings,  village 
and  city  garbage  and  refuse,  stable -manure,  brush,  poles,  round 
or  cleft  logs  (all  more  or  less  in  use  by  this  civilization,  as  cuts 
in  city  streets  testify),  the  sooner  a  road  is  compacted  and 
smoothed  over  the  better. 

"  If  it  were  done  when  'tis  done,  then  'twere  well 
It  were  done  quickly." 

Pauper  labor  and  chain-gangs — the  offspring  of  learned  craft 
and  studied  proletarian  ignorance — cannot  well  be  the  raw  ma- 
terial of  the  best  road  making,  except  they  are  warmed  over 
and  renewed  by  the  touch  of  divine  charity  and  human  fellow- 
ship. The  best  roads  will  be  engendered  in  the  thought  of  the 
best  artisans,  and  these  will  be  most  familiar  with  the  nature 
of  all  things.  Have  we  seen  the  quiet  gangs  of  men  engaged 
in  artificial  rock-pavement  around  our  national  buildings  ?  Where 
every  man  is  a  master  tradesman,  and  it  is  impossible  to  tell 
who  the  boss  is,  so  closely  do  all  mind  their  business  ?  Those 
are  working  models  of  applied  sciences.  Let  us  begin  road 
making  in  that  way,  and  trust  imitative  human  nature  to  follow 
us.  It  would  be  cheaper  than  our  present  half-civilized  methods, 
of  choosing  a  new  road-mender  every  year. 

Take  such  a  common  matter  as  coal  ashes  from  a  mill,  for 
instance.  Those  slaty  pieces  and  ragged  clinkers,  if  uniformly 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  109 

distributed  in  the  mass,  are  indispensable  to  the  life  of  the  road. 
But  we  usually  see  them  ground  to  powder  in  a  loose  condition 
by  the  narrow  tires  of  ordinary  travel,  instead  of  being  rolled 
and  trodden  solid  at  once,  as  delivered  on  the  highway,  by  sci- 
entific teams,  teamsters  and  workmen.  Every  bit  of  slate  broken, 
and  every  rough  clinker  pulverized,  makes  the  road  more  mealy, 
the  substance  of  it  shorter,  less  coherent  and  less  able  to  endure 
the  grind  of  hoofs  and  wheels.  Coal-ash  roads  are  not  half  as 
permanent  as  they  might  be  if  these  directions  were  followed 
strictly,  and  without  a  cent's  additional  cost  in  laying.  Polished 
particles  cannot  hang  together  in  a  road-bed,  yet  we  often  treat 
road  metal  on  a  highway,  by  allowing  it  to  be  run  over  in  an 
unfinished  condition,  suffering  the  thrust  and  crush  of  wheels 
and  hoofs,  forcing  every  particle  of  it  to  polish  its  neighbor, 
very  much  as  rough  castings  in  mills  are  whirled  in  tumbling- 
barrels  to  polish  each  other. 

When  we  call  to  mind  the  wear  and  tear  of  vehicles  and 
horses,  stumbling  along  some  avenue  new  laid  with  big  contrac- 
tor's "  macadam,"  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  method  is  any- 
thing but  scientific,  and  nothing  that  MacAdam  himself  would 
have  agreed  to.  Only  case-hardened  authority  and  "  system" 
will  be  guilty  of  such  things. 

Wherever  an  attempt  is  made  to  mitigate  the  roughness  of 
partially-broken  stones,  by  doubling  over  them  unctuous  street 
clay,  or  by  hauling  on  greasy  mud  scraped  from  other  streets 
and  avenues,  or  by  bedding  the  stones  in  gutter  scrapings1— 
what  name  can  we  apply  to  such  filthy  practices  ?  and  how  shall 
we  describe  the  condition  of  communities  enduring  them? 
Would  you  transplant  these  dirty  steam-roller  tricks  into  the 
country  ? 

A  road  or  street  so  top-dressed  is  not  a  pleasant  matter  for 
contemplation,  all  the  way  down  through  it,  except  to  the  reso- 
lute community  and  its  master  workmen,  who  have  decided  to 

1  "  'Cyclop.  Britannica"  mentions  "street  scrapings"  with  "sand  and  gravel"  for  binding 
stone. 


no  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

go  to  the  bottom  of  the  trouble  with  a  stone-breaker  and  do 
the  work  all  over  again,  as  herein  described.  That  is  MacAdam. 
There  are  thousands  of  miles  of  execrable  stone  road  that  will 
pay  better  than  any  road  stock  we  have  for  re-working.  Bad 
road  work  will  out — like  murder.  This  labor  would  give  scope 
for  a  new  style  of  machinery  ;  traction  stone  breakers,  with 
narrow  roller  tenders,  working  nights,  perhaps,  in  crowded 
cities  ;  or  in  dull  seasons,  handicraft,  with  improved  tools,  might 
be  revived  by  an  enterprising  people,  who  will  have  their  streets 
perfectly  clean.  A  stone  road,  rutted  and  mixed  with  clay,  is  no 
better  than  so  much  dirty  raw  material,  to  be  quarried  free  of 
cartage. 

The  nature  of  the  soil  beneath  a  road  has  much  to  do  with 
the  cost  of  its  construction.  Sands  and  gravels  which  never 
hold  water  afford  the  cheapest  and  most  secure  foundation,  and 
in  all  the  gradations  of  sand,  gravel,  hard-pan  and  clay,  the 
degree  of  water-holding  capacity,  in  a  climate  where  the  action 
of  frost  must  be  considered,  furnishes  a  close  index  of  the  com- 
parative cost  of  making  an  absolutely  permanent  and  smooth 
road. 

The  best  road  making  in  many  populous  and  naturally  thor- 
ough-drained districts,  is  complicated  by  the  practice,  for  many 
years,  of  attempting  betterments  of  clay,  hard-pan,  or  gravel 
containing  much  clay  or  loam,  or  other  material  which  has 
destroyed  the  drainage  of  the  roadbed  that  formerly  existed 
and  increased  its  water-holding  capacity.  In  such  cases  it  may 
be  cheapest  to  select  a  new  line  for  the  proposed  solid-rock 
road.  Or,  if  sand  is  plenty,  and  there  is  room  enough  in  a  rural 
street,  let  the  artificial  mud  be  scraped  entirely  away  to  grow 
grass  upon,  down  to  the  original  sand,  to  which  other  sand  may 
be  added,  and  on  this,  well  trampled  by  turning  teams,  may  be 
built  the  best  stone  road.  Many  years  of  travel  on  simple  sand 
will  grind  that  to  mud  in  wet  weather. 

Sand,  for  a  foundation,  has  been  injured — unwittingly,  per- 
haps— in  public  estimation  by  clerical  commentators.  In  drying 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  in 

winds,  or  where  water  can  wash  it  away ;  or  where  rats,  bank- 
robbers  or  jail-breakers  will  find  too  easy  digging,  there  should 
be  caution  ;  but  pure,  dry  sand,  well  settled  and  down  deep  in 
the  earth,  never  budges.  We  may  build  church  steeples  or  mill 
chimneys  on  it. 

We  must  have  sand  appreciated  in  engineering  schools  and 
in  popular  comprehension,  because  it  is  well  worth  hauling  long 
distances,  sometimes,  to  cover  and  qualify  clay  beneath  the  best 
stone  roads.  Every  old  street  pavior  knows  the  value  of  sand 
as  a  permanent  cushion  for  stone.  It  will  give  and  take  just  so 
much,  kindly,  in  the  road  bottom,  but  no  more. 

Here,  for  instance,  is  an  extreme  case  in  actual  street  prac- 
tice, but  not  an  uncommon  one.  It  well  illustrates  thousands  of 
miles  of  the  road  problems  now  staring  us  in  the  face  for  solu- 
tion. It  is  a  causeway,  built  high  up,  street  wide  and  mostly 
walled  in,  of  clay  strong  enough  for  bricks.  It  has  been  covered 
and  recovered  with  stone,  roughly  broken,  and  mingled  with 
mud,  without  ever  a  thought  of  making  a  water-tight  floor  roof 
over  that  causeway. 

In  mild  Winters  and  Spring  thaws  these  stones  are  thrust 
down  into  the  saturated  clay,  causing  that  to  ooze  and  float  upon 
the  surface,  often  creating  such  a  public  outcry  that  more  rough 
stone  are  added,  to  go  downward  in  due  time  like  the  others. 
This  process  has  been  going  on  for  generations  as  the  regular 
conservative  thing. 

The  interesting  performance  is  variegated  in  cold  Winters 
by  frost  entering  the  elevated  roadbed  of  clay  and  stone  deeply, 
and  swelling  it  gradually,  so  that  every  few  years  long  stretches 
of  the  "  retaining  walls  "  are  sprung  off  past  their  centre  of 
gravity  and  have  to  be  rebuilt.  It  is  vigilant  and  astute  "engin- 
eering" that  twigs  the  walls  before  they  actually  tumble  intq  the 
meadow.  These  slow  movements  add  to  local  "  industry,"  of 
course,  but  constitute  a  serious  item  in  the  "  maintenance  "  of 
calculations  that  were  worse  than  useless  in  the  first  place, 
because  a  sore  public  nuisance  is  created  and  road  stupidity 


H2  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

generated  by  wholesale  for  a  century  throughout  a  broad  district 
of  country.  No  end  of  children  are  born,  marked — greatly  to 
the  injury  of  the  State — by  the  hopelessness  of  that  hoary  old 
"system."  The  "Slough  of  Despond  "  will  occur  to  the  vet- 
eran reader  in  this  connection  :  "  Yea,  and  to  my  knowledge,'' 
said  Helper,  "  here  have  been  swallowed  tip  at  least  twenty-thou- 
sand cart  loads,  yea,  millions  of  wholesome  instructions  /" 

What  is  the  scientific  remedy  for  such  a  flagrant  breach  of 
the  peace  as  that  common  in  lessei  measure,  perhaps,  wherever 
clay  is  ridged  np  between  retaining  walls  of  turf  all  over  the 
country  ?  In  this  case  sand  is  cheap  and  convenient,  while  stone 
must  be  brought  long  distances.  What  else  can  we  do  but  plant 
a  rock  crusher  on  that  causeway,  lift  the  stones  and  break  them 
fine  enough  to  fill  their  own  crevices,  bedding  them  solid  and 
water-tight  on  sand  enough  to  keep  the  clay  still  ? 

It  is  believed  there  is  double  the  quantity  of  stone  on  that 
causeway,  when  they  are  cleaned  from  mud  and  broken  fine,  to 
build  a  perfect  rock  road.  It  is  as  good  as  a  quarry,  and  repre- 
sents the  accumulated  savings  of  generations  of  superficial 
thinking  about  highways.  With  a  solid  stone  floor  roof  and  an 
edging  of  turf  over  them,  those  retaining  walls  will  stand  for- 
ever. 

The  relative  value  of  stone,  sand  and  clay  varies  immensely 
in  different  districts.  Ten  loads  of  either  respectively,  in  places 
that  need  not  be  specified,  would  willingly  be  given  for  a  single 
load  of  either  on  the  spot  in  time  of  need.  Railways  have  a 
duty  to  themselves  as  well  as  to  the  people  in  making  fit  ex- 
changes possible. 

Somewhere  in  our  road  making  we  must  have  a  place  to 
use  refuse  stone,  brickbats,  and  so-forth,  or  our  methods  will 
never  be  popular.  It  will  be  scarcely  worth  while  to  play 
"Telford"  with  these  substances,  and  set  them  up  on  end,  if 
the  fill  is  deep  enough  and  sound  packing  is  plenty.  Several 
noteworthy  authors  admit  the  shoddy  material  without  specify- 
ing precisely  what  shall  be  done  with  it.  Hence,  in  city  street 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  113 

diggings  for  water,  gas,  sewers,  etc.,  old  rubbish,  once  thought 
to  be  buried,  is  continually  coming  to  the  surface  to  the  great 
astonishment  of  bystanders ;  and  is  carelessly  tumbled  into 
ditches  and  holes,  to  the  frequent  injury  of  the  roadbed.  This 
is  a  matter  wise  city  fathers  should  see  to.  Every  town  or 
growing  village  should  keep  a  street  prophet  who  will  beware  of 
the  loss  by  burying  rubbish  where  it  will  have  to  be  dug  up 
again. 

It  must  be  allowed  that  where  clay  has  been  covered  with 
six  to  twelve  inches  of  sand  and  there  is  still  room  enough  in  the 
roadbed  to  put  refuse  stone,  brickbats,  etc.,  where  they  can 
never  come  to  the  wearing  surface,  these  rough  materials,  if 
trodden  air  tight  and  well  covered  with  better  substance,  may 
save  all  their  bulk  in  choice  road  metal.  A  roadmaker  will  be 
too  squeamish  who  can't  find  some  safe  place  for  almost  any- 
thing, if  he  has  due  notice  of  it — except  a  porous  sub-structure. 
That  should  be  forbidden  by  law. 

When  solid  rock  road  is  to  be  built  across  an  exclusively 
clay  country,  don't  let  us  fail  to  make  the  best  of  what  we  have 
got  for  a  foundation.  Clay  is  the  hardest  and  heaviest  of  soils, 
and  will  hold  up  anything  if  we  keep  it  dry.  Reject  loamy  and 
mucky  portions  for  the  bed  of  the  road.  Make  that  high  enough 
of  the  crude  aluminum.  If  a  central  drain  is  needed,  with  outlets 
into  side  ditches,  or  .under  drains  parallel  with  the  road,  make 
them  the  first  thing.  Where  the  side  ditches  must  be  deep  and 
open,  dig  them  so,  and  with  well-sodded  banks,  fit  to  mow,  where 
neatness  is  desirable — as  where  is  it  not  ? 

To  fill  across  a  clay  marsh  or  swamp  is  one  thing — a  road 
over  arable  clays  is  quite  another.  Here  a  wider  excavation  for 
material,  with  gentler  slopes,  and  under-drainage  of  parallel  side- 
ditches  may  be  possible.  Where  it  is  seen  that  a  love  of  beauty 
is  worth  cultivating — even  in  road-menders — and  that  fine  turf 
has  an  appreciable  cash  value  in  keeping  the  shoulders  of  a  road 
dry,  preventing  gutters  from  washing  at  the  eaves,  so  to  speak, 
of  a  solid  roof-road,  then  the  side  ditches  will  be  well-planned 

8 


H4  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

and  constructed  beforehand  as  a  legitimate  part  of  the  work. 
Usually  the  fever  to  get  somewhere  prevents  much  thought  of 
road  borders. 

Wherever  water,  with  or  without  frost,  is  liable  to  render  the 
foundation  of  a  road  insecure,  provision  must  be  made  against  it. 
There  are  perennial  springs  that  anyone  can  see,  and  basins  of 
rock,  hard-pan  or  clay,  which  become  springs  in  wet  weather, 
that  few  will  see  beforehand.  These  are  very  apt  to  cause 
trouble  where  cuts  have  been  made  for  roads.  The  chances  are 
too  numerous  for  specification  in  an  essay.  Simple  land  drain- 
age of  clays  will  improve  lines  of  highways  in  frosty  regions. 
Three  inches  of  sand  along  the  line  of  a  wet  meadow  under 
drain  furnishes  a  dry  foot-path  ;  and  when  it  is  overgrown  with 
grass-thatched,  roofed,  as  it  were,  with  grass  fibre,  frost  never 
softens  that  sand,  and  we  see  illustrated  the  effect  of  solid  stone 
floor  roofing  upon  a  ridge  of  drained  clay  highway. 

Drainage  should  be  done  separately  from  road  work,  and 
months  before  it,  unless  extraordinary  pains  are  taken  to  ensure 
the  earth's  settling.  But  as  part  of  the  filling  on  clays,  exposed 
to  water  and  frost,  let  it  be  repeated  that  coarse  pit  sand,  or 
fine,  loose,  dry  gravel,  are  better  than  broken  rock  to  lay  the 
best  stone  road  upon,  because  they  pack  easier  and  hold  as  well. 
Herein  so  many  mistakes  have  been  made  that  we  need  line 
upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept. 

Let  us  beware,  however,  of  trusting  to  gravel  that  is  part 
clay — or  that  will  grind  the  clay  inside  of  a  road.  Esquire  R.  R. 
Bramley,  whose  slow  English  came  out  before  MacAdam's 
nervous  sentences,  and  contained  the  same  road  principles,  cau- 
tions us  against  using  stones  with  clay  in  them :  They  make  a 
saponaceous,  greasy  mass,  he  says.  Clay  mingled  with  water  is 
a,,  very  insidious  and  slippery  thing.  Chemists  have  difficulty  in 
separating  some  forms  of  clay  from  water.  We  want  no  manner 
of  it  mingled  with  the  bottom  or  top  stone  of  a  road  that  we  design 
to  be  frost  proof,  because  of  its  great  water-holding  capacity, 
and  because  it  acts  as  a  lubricant  in  preventing  the  fractured 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  115 

surfaces  of  broken  stone  from  clinging  together.  The  really 
acute  roadmaker  will  be  as  shy  of  having  clay  in  the  interstices 
of  his  stone  work  as  the  vigilant  mason  is  of  having  clay  in  a 
brick  or  stone  wall.  Wherever  unburned  clay  goes  there  water 
will  stay  if  it  gathers,  and  then  frost  may  expand  it  with  irre- 
sistible power. 

On  top  of  the  best  finished  road  in  use  much  vegetable 
fibre  is  constantly  dropping ;  fine  dust,  also,  is  making  continu- 
ally, and  these  greatly  assist  in  rendering  the  best  stone  road 
roof -tight.  Even  if  the  road  is  frequently  swept  this  will  be  so. 
Whoever  has  strained  fruit  juice  or  filtered  water  will  not 
dispute  it. 

But  at  the  bottom  and  inside  of  his  work  the  roadmaker  wants 
no  clayey,  loamy  or  vegetable  matter,  nor  any  washings  of  such 
leaching  down  among  his  porous  stone  in  process  of  construc- 
tion or  hardening,  to  be  swollen  and  shocked  by  water  and  frost 
at  some  later  period. 

If  we  bed  large  stones  on  clay  alone,  without  the  utmost 
faithfulness  of  fine  grit  packing  (for  which  sharp  sand  may  be 
cheaper  and  better  than  crushed  rock),  up  will  come  the  dilute 
clay  whenever  the  road  is  used  in  a  rainy,  freezing  and  thawing 
Winter.  Even  with  ideal  vigilance  on  the  part  of  authority  there 
is  still  danger  from  the  insidious  clay,  ttnless  every  man  engaged 
upon  the  wotk  knows  wherein  the  danger  consists.  It  is  not 
enough  that  surveyors  general  and  county  surveyors  know  how 
to  make  our  paths  straight — that  should  be  taught  in  our  com- 
monest schools. 

Cover  that  clay  with  a  thick  blanket  of  coarse  sand,  or  fine 
dry  gravel,  free  from  earth  and  clay  mixtures — though  in  some 
places  fine  crushed  rock  may  be  cheaper — and  the  best  road 
making  may  go  on  above  in  perfect  security. 

Except  within  four  inches  of  the  wearing  surface  of  the 
road — or  that  which  after  a  long  time  may  become  so — the  sand 
filling  is  mechanically  as  serviceable  as  the  most  costly  road 
metal.  Experience  will  prove  that  a  finer  and  more  lasting 


ii6  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

superficial  finish,  as  well  as  a  smoother  wearing  road,  can  be  built 
on  the  sand  substratum  than  over  a  solid  rock  bottom.  This  is 
because  the  sand  yields  kindlier  to  the  finishing  above  it  than 
rock  will  while  holding  its  place  faithfully,  and  keeping  the  clay 
below  in  its  own  place,  too.  We  don't  care  about  planing  both 
sides  of  our  roads.  It  is  the  top  side  we  want  always  smooth. 
If  sand  does  not  belong,  geologically,  above  clay,  it  is  inclined 
to  stay  above  it  in  road  work,  unless  exposed  to  mechanical 
mixing.  Observe  the  trouble  the  brickmaker  has  to  work  sand 
into  clay  with  his  many-spiked  pug-mill. 

After  an  open  Winter  or  two,  and  when  laborers  and  con- 
tractors are  out  of  employment ;  when  tax-payers  have  become 
critical  and  the  people  generally  grow  uneasy  ;  wheelmen  very 
sensitive  and  sensible  about  rough  roads  ;  carriage  makers  see- 
ing their  rolling  stock  shaken  to  pieces,  begin  to  ask  questions ; 
local  and  social  feeling  long  swamped  in  mudmarchings  ;  gover- 
nors blushing  for  the  hard  roads  they  have  to  travel ;  farmers 
further  from  home  markets,  though  but  ten  miles  from  a  city, 
than  though  they  lived  up  the  Mediterranean  or  in  Japan; 
capital  seeking  profitable  investments  or  driving  across  the 
country  after  sunken  money  ;  institutions  of  learning  ashamed 
of  their  own  graduates  ;  political  partisans  hunting  live  issues  ; 
when  all  these  forces  join  the  public  press  and  legislatures  in 
hurrying  up  road  making  in  districts  where  the  soil  is  largely 
composed  of  clay,  it  is  time  to  make  the  sign  of  caution.  Look 
out  then  for  quack  remedies.  Let  us  go  slow  and  sure,  or  in  the 
excitement  and  enthusiasm  of  many  voices,  bad  work  is  certain 
to  be  done,  even  with  the  best  of  intentions. 

Here  is  a  current  sample  of  the  "  greedy"  way  stone  road 
work  is  going  on  now.  It  looks  like  a  move  to  palm  road 
machinery  on  the  obfuscated  sense  of  publics  who  don't  know 
how  to  use  it : 

CRUSH   STONE  FOR  GOOD   ROADS. 

The  town  of  Sweden,  Monroe  County,  N.  Y. ,  owns  a  stone  crusher  and 
hires  men  by  the  day  to  run  it.     Last  Spring  the  town  appropriated  $2,000  to 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  117 

crush  stone,  and,  to  make  a  rough  guess,  I  think  the  $2,000  crushed  stone 
enough  to  make  five  miles  of  perfect  road.  They  set  the  crusher  near  stone, 
which  is  donated  ;  the  town  pays  for  hauling  stone  to  the  crusher  and  pays 
for  crushing  it ;  the  road  districts  go  and  get  the  crushed  stone  and  lay  it. 
Each  road  district  and  individual  is  greedy  to  get  the  stone,  and  I  think  that 
money  thus  expended  goes  ten  times  as  far  as  any  other  in  making  highways. 
In  the  last  three  years  the  town  of  Sweden  has  made  about  twenty  miles  of 
road,  so  good  that  a  team  can  haul  as  large  a  load  in  this  open,  muddy  Winter 
as  in  Summer.  The  land  is  clay,  and  the  roads  not  laid  with  stone  or  gravel 
are  simply  fearful.  It  would  pay  a  person  to  go  a  long  distance  to  see 
what  has  been  done  to  the  roads  in  the  town  of  Sweden.  When  the  roads 
are  all  made  with  crushed  stone  and  the  fences  removed  from  the  bleak 
places  where  snow  drifts,  the  millennium  will  not  be  far  away. — Semi-  Weekly 
Tribune,  January  loth,  1890. 

D.  A.  BARKER. 

It  is  easy  enough  to  build  good-looking  stone  roads  over 
clay  which  will  pass  any  early  inspection  that  is  liable  to  be 
given  them ;  that  will  please  superficial  students  of  the  slow 
geologies  of  road  making  who  have  never  known  a  really  good 
stone  road  ;  that  will  win  such  exulting  paragraphs  of  praise 
from  the  press  as  the  above  ;  and  yet  in  the  bitter  end  disgust 
everybody  who  rides  over  them,  because  they  do  not  wear 
smoothly,  owing  to  the  slow  but  constant  sinking  of  the  bottom 
stone  in  the  clay  subsoil. 

Whoever  has  ridden  over  one  of  these  hastily  built  "  better 
roads"  knows  the  history  of  the  country  it  is  in  ;  has  seen  the 
road  knocked  to  pieces,  remembers  well  when  the  original  mud 
beneath  it  was  a  notorious  terror  during  wet  weather  and  open 
Winters,  or  in  Spring,  will  have  learned  that  sharp,  angular 
broken  rocks,  rammed  in  confusion  into  the  clay  by  a  few  years' 
use,  and  inextricably  mingled  with  it  by  struggling  teams  may 
become  a  bottomless  road-horror  when  the  clay  is  churned  to 
batter.  Soft  slab  mub,  simply,  however  deep,  is  nothing  to  the 
new  arrangement  for  pulling  off  shoes,  laming  horses  and 
wrenching  and  cutting  the  running-gear  of  vehicles.  Only  the 
entire  force  of  our  census  bureau,  reorganized  upon  fresh 


n8  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

economic  principles,  can  estimate  the  cost  for  "  maintenance" 
of  such  aggravated  wrong  beginnings  of  roads  as  that.  It  may 
be  cheaper  to  abandon  them  entirely. 

When  once  the  lower  stones  of  a  road — no  matter  what 
their  size  is — have  gone  wandering,  varicose,  sidewise  or  down- 
ward in  the  saturated  clay — opened  by  frost  and  thaw  to  swal- 
low them — the  stones  next  above  continue  dropping  under  the 
weight  and  thrust  of  teams,  all  cohesion  in  the  superstructure 
is  lost  and  no  man  can  tell  where  the  bottom  of  that  road  will 
bring  up. 

Even  in  Southern  England,  where  deep  frost  is  not  ex- 
pected, we  are  told  now  of  roads  four  feet  deep  of  broken 
stone,  presumably  where  railway  labor,  such  as  we  import  from 
countries  that  have  enough  of  it,  is  used  to  unlimited  material ; 
where  nobody  exists  like  the  frugal  patrons  of  husbandry  who 
helped  MacAdam  in  a  period  of  agricultural  depression,  but 
where  street  contractors  and  roguish  or  ignorant  city  authori- 
ties, in  collusion  with  those  who  sell  stone  and  promote  heavy 
jobs,  have  their  wicked  way  with  road  affairs,  unsustained  by  a 
wise  common-sense  and  economic  or  social  science.  This  mass 
of  stone — an  enormous  "drainage  layer" — whether  lubricated 
by  commingled  clay  or  not,  will  move,  by  slow  "glacial"  action, 
for  many  years,  while  trembling  under  the  mighty  traffic  of  a 
great  city.  Rough  stones  piled  together  and  subject  to  racking 
pressure  soon  slip  at  points  of  contact  and  lubricate  friction 
with  their  own  fine  material.  Acute  angles  wear  off;  but  while 
the  incoherent  body  of  rock  is  constantly  shrinking,  it  never 
becomes  solid. 

One  of  the  vested  interests,  and  great  but  neglected  local 
industries  of  cities,  consists  in  scraping  up  the  mud  which  oozes 
through  the  interstices  of  badly-constructed  rock  roads.  This 
is  contraband  of  health  and  good  policy,  besides  being  ruinous 
to  the  integrity  of  street  work  and  society.  It  looks  as  if  we 
meant  to  keep  laboring  people  sickly,  as  well  as  poor  and  igno- 
rant, the  easier  to  govern  them. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  119 

Corrupt  examples  of  metropolitan  engineering  are  certain 
to  affect  all  rural  road  making  unfavorably  and  in  more  than 
one  way ;  for  if  the  city  is  taxed  all  or  more  than  it  can  bear 
for  bogus  street  work,  the  citizen  is  less  able  to  buy  and  pay 
for  honest  productions  of  all  kinds,  and  countrymen  are  less 
able  to  equip  themselves  with  tools  and  machines  for  road 
making.  Hence  the  whole  country  is  impoverished,  and  entire 
States  fall  into  decay. 

The  absurdity  of  open-work  foundations  of  stone  on  clay, 
or  on  many  grades  of  loam — even  sandy  loam — that  become 
qtdck  or  quicksandy  when  acted  upon  by  frost  and  water,  is  so 
common — stalking  unblushingly  abroad  in  the  land — that  the 
warnings  given  here  may  be  considered  silly,  hypercritical  and 
incredible  by  the  large  portion  of  the  community  who  have  not 
looked  into  these  things. 

Since  MacAdam's  time  the  proportion  of  people  who  have 
little  or  no  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  ground-^the  earth — 
and  the  crude  material  of  which  the  crust  of  it  is  composed, 
has  vastly  increased  and  is  increasing.  They  have  pens,  ink  and 
paper  and  a  facility  for  using  them  well  calculated  to  deceive  the 
unwary.  They  are  trusted  to  make  newspapers,  magazines,  text- 
books and  cyclopaedias,  jumping  boldly  into  subjects  where  the 
most  skillful  specialists  tread  with  caution.  One  who  knows 
well  even  but  a  thing  or  two  of  roads,  by  experience,  will  not  be 
deceived  by  these  mere  bookworms,  who  subsist  chiefly  upon 
each  other's  borings.  But  the  reader  who  knows  nothing  of 
road  matters — since  special  educations  are  developing  special 
ignorances  as  well — is  very  liable  to  be  cheated  by  the  prints 
that  are  made  to  sell  and  catch  the  flying  pennies  of  the  day. 
One  of  our  "cheap"  cyclopaedias1  has  this  definition  of  the 
word  "MACADAMIZING.  (Engin.}  A  method  of  road  making 
charactericed  by  breaking  the  stone  so  small  that  they  may 
form,  when  covered  with  a  layer  of  earth,  a  smooth,  solid  mass 

1  Zell,  Philadelphia. 


120  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

— so  named  after  the  inventor,  Jas.  Mac  Adam,  a  native  of  Scot- 
land, 1756-1836." 

This  statement  is  less  injurious  to  the  studious,  because  it 
is  brief  and  the  proportion  of  blunders  to  the  square  inch  is  so 
' '  large.  But  the  Committee  on  Better  Roads  will  find  that  this 
definition  is  as  good  as  the  average  mind  about  stone  roads. 

Public  misconceptions  are  the  more  to  be  deplored  during 
a  period  when  we  are  spending  hundreds  of  thousands  in 
shamelessly  poor  road  work  where  we  are  paying  a  dollar  for 
really  expert  study  and  advice,  and  while  we  find  no  remedy  in 
the  literary  authorities  that  have  already  tainted  our  minds 
with  error. 

For  instance,  here  is  a  "  respectable"  cyclopaedia1  saying 
under  the  head  of  "  Roads,"  that  Mac  Adam  rejected  all  fine 
material  and  "splinters"  of  stone.  Where  is  its  authority? 
Indeed,  there  is  none,  and  the  writer  has  the  good  sense  to 
doubt  his  own  statement  in  the  following  sentence ;  for  if  Mac- 
Adam  rejected  the  finer  bits  of  stone,  how  could  he  make  water- 
tight roads  ? 

But  the  cheating  story  had  gone  abroad  before  that  writer's 
time,  and  his  bread  and  butter  may  have  depended  largely  on 
his  not  contradicting  it.  It  has  cost  the  nations  untold  millions 
of  money — that  fraud  of  cubic  measurement  for  broken  stone 
that  is  half  air,  has.  In  the  feeble  beginning  of  machine  stone- 
crushing,  perhaps  the  cheat  was  needed,  but  now,  gentlemen — 
for  shame!  In  this  day  of  judgment,  when  we  want  the  whole 
people  to  join  us  in  honest  road  work,  let  us  have  done  with  it. 
SELL  YOUR  STONE  BY  WEIGHT  in  proportions  Jit  to  make  solid  road. 

No  doubt  we  did  get  the  sham  measure  by  way  of  Mac- 
Adam.  But  how  ?  By  the  way  his  women  and  children  cobbled 
up  their  conical  heaps  to  be  measured  by  the  yard.  It  is  the 
superannuated  old  device  of  the  decayed  woodchopper  (who  is 
permitted  to  spend  more  time  piling  his  wood  in  "  every  sizes  " 

1  Appleton,  recent  editions. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  121 

to  make  it  measure  more,  because  he  is  old  and  feeble),  surviv 
ing  among  great  corporations. 

This  worse  than  thimble-rig  swindle  permeates  all  our  road 
writings,  measurements  and  labor.  It  is  the  father  of  all  the 
slimy  stone  roads  we  have  to  contend  with.  It  gave  us  our 
crumbling  open  work,  "drainage-layer"  foundations,  which  never 
can  keep  a  smooth  surface.  There  is  no  end  to  such  a  fraud  as 
that  till  it  is  run  entirely  into  the  ground. 

When  we  contract  for  six,  eight,  ten  or  fourteen  inches  of 
stone  road  work,  what  do  we  expect  to  get — stone  or  air  ?  No- 
body seems  to  know,  at  present,  but  people  of  judgment  will 
know  before  they  will  be  taxed  to  make  the  best  stone  roads  as 
common  as  they  ought  to  be. 

About  the  size  of  his  stone,  this  was  what  MacAdam  told 
the  Parliamentary  committee  : 

"  If  you  made  the  road  of  all  six-ounce  stone  IT  WOULD  BE 

A  ROUGH  ROAD,  but  IT  IS  IMPOSSIBLE  BUT  THAT  THE  GREATER 
PART  OF  THE  STONE  MUST  BE  UNDER  THAT  SIZE." 

Stone  of  even  size  will  make  a  "  rough  road"  because  they 
are  half  air.  In  making  up  their  little  piles  of  stone  to  be  meas- 
ured, MacAdam's  families  of  workpeople  must  have  seen  that 
their  chip  stone  added  little  to  the  measurement  (as  our  bully 
rock-crushers  have  seen),  but  no  doubt  all  the  clean  stone  chips 
went  on  to  the  pile,  while  fine  fragments  and  dust,  if  with  a 
suspicion  of  dirt,  remained  to  make  a  walk  beside  the  road. 
MacAdam  hated  the  dirt  that  was  unavoidably  lifted  with  his 
stone,  no  doubt,  and  took  every  means  to  be  rid  of  it,  and  with 
others  talked  of  washing  stone  and  gravel.  He  could  have  had 
no  other  reason  for  rejecting  small  bits  of  stone. 

We  are  giving  too  little,  rather  than  too  much,  space  in  lit- 
erature to  these  low-down  and  neglected,  but  most  essential, 
truths  of  road  making,  for  the  common  people,  taken  together, 
who  will  never  see  this  essay,  are  always  wise  beyond  what  is 
printed,  having  learned  all  these  things  by  tradition  and  per- 
sonal  contact,  as  their  would-be  leaders  should  stop  to  think. 


122  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Theirs  is  literally  the  all-seeing  eye — let  us  not  attempt  to 
deceive  it ;  whipped  by  road  and  street  taxes  for  generations, 
resulting  in  nothing  from  father  to  son  but  sites  for  more  road 
taxation,  the  kindlings  of  faith  and  confidence  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people  wherever  they  occur,  must  be  treated  with  rare  sin- 
cerity, or  our  last  state  will  be  worse  than  our  first. 

It  is  necessary  that  we  should  quote  some  of  our  bogus 
"engineering"  to  precisely  show  what  we  are  driving  at : 

The  true  principle  of  roadmaking J  consists  in  giving  every  road  two 
component  parts  ;  one  the  foundation — to  be  solid,  unyielding,  POROUS,  and 
of  large  material;  the  other — the  top  surface — to  be  made  up  lighter  ma- 
terial, bound  compactly  and  evenly  over  the  rougher  foundation. 

This  writer  of  a  "  prize"  paper — through  the  Massachusetts 
Board  of  Agriculture — widely  commended  in  "engineering" 
circles,  is  Mr.  Clemens  Herschell,  of  Boston.  He  further  ven- 
tilates this  honeycomb  doctrine  for  roads,  so  there  can  be  no 
mistake  about  it,  as  follows  :  "  The  point  never  to  be  lost  sight  of 
is  that  this  foundation  course  must  remain  porous,  must  be  pervious 
to  water,  so  that  all  water  that  shall  soak  through  the  top  covering 
will  find  through  it  means  to  escape  to  the  ground  imderneath" 

Mr.  Chauncy  B.  Ripley,  of  Union  County,  New  Jersey,  is 
described  in  the  New  York  Times  as  now  making  roads  "  accord- 
ing to  contract,  rigidly,  in  all  cases"  where,  in  the  rough  bottom 
layer,  "each  stone  stands  an  inch  or  so  away  from  other  stones" 
to  provide  for  the  water  of  the  surface,  "  which  percolates  through 
the  stone"  of  the  top  structure. 

No  child,  properly  experienced  in  its  mud-pie  stages,  can 
possibly  grow  up  to  have  faith  in  this  cob-house  arrangement  of 
stone  remaining  in  place  as  stated,  in  the  crush  and  grind  of  a 
roadbed.  Yet  this  road  making  is  going  on  at  a  cost  of  "about 
$10,000  per  mile"  while  the  same  journal  says  of  the  same 
county  in  New  Jersey,  "  roads  that  have  been  considered  of  the 
first  class,  and  that  have  cost  enough  to  make  a  solid  and  durable 

1  From  newspaper  page  (in  plates  $1.50)  of  the  "American  Press  Association,"  with 
offices  in  all  the  principal  cities. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  123 

highway,  have  been  so  softened  by  the  wet  weather  tliat  they  have 
succumbed  to  the  strain  of  ordinary  teaming,  and  are  cut  to  pieces 
and  seamed  with  dangerous  ruts." 

With  such  theories  and  such  work  dominating  the  country, 
it  was  high  time  for  a  National  "  Committee  of  Better  Roads." 

In  case  radical  repairs  are  proposed  on  an  old  stone  road 
that  is  full  of  ruts,  holes,  frequent  low  spots  of  considerable 
area  and  badly  out  of  regulation  shape  in  many  places,  what 
shall  be  done  to  make  the  best  road  of  it  ? 

First  consider  the  significance  of  the  depressions.  What 
do  they  mean  ?  Are  they  worn — ground  by  the  friction  of  travel 
into  softer  portions  of  rock  that  was  unequal  in  quality  ?  Do  they 
each  one  indicate  some  old  "  porosity"  or  honeycomb  arrange- 
ment of  texture  that  has  caved  in  ?  Or  do  these  signs  all  show 
defective  drainage — some  trouble  at  the  bottom,  and  a  road  struc- 
ture that  always  leaked  like  a  riddle  ?  That  good  stone  have  sunk 
in  a  yielding  subsoil  ?  Let  us  make  no  mistake  in  this  investiga- 
tion— thorough  and  positive  knowledge  is  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance to  a  correct  diagnosis  of  all  these  chronic  cases.  If  these 
marks  show  that  the  road  has  gone  down  into  the  mud  with  us 
many  times — like  a  broken-kneed  horse — it  will  go  down  with  us 
again.  For  all  such  muddles  the  only  radical  reform  is  to  lift 
the  good  stone,  break  them  smaller  if  they  need  it,  drain  the 
road  and  relay,  roof  tight,  on  a  bed  of  clean  sand  or  fine  gravel 
that  will  keep  the  subsoil  quiet. 

In  flush  times,  when  labor  is  dear,  and  machines  can  make 
money  for  enterprising  parties,  it  is  generally  thought  cheaper 
to  pile  on  more  stone  and  sweat  taxes  out  later  from  somebody's 
labor  for  maintenance. 

Ninety-nine  times  in  a  hundred  the  fault  in  old  broken 
stone  roads  will  be  found  in  the  subsoil,  which  was  never 
drained  or  covered  with  the  stone-floor  roof  prescribed  by  Mac- 
Adam.  That  soil  either  boils  up  through  the  stone,  making 
mud  or  dust  in  their  seasons  to  fly  in  the  travelers'  faces,  and 
wash  into  side  ditches,  or  blow  into  the  windows  of  houses  or 


124  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

upon  adjoining  lands.  Not  rarely  the  side  ditches  are  closed  by 
bulges,  caused  by  frost  and  travel  and  the  settlement  of  stone  at 
the  side  of  the  water-soaked  highway.  Citizens  of  the  ditching 
persuasion  smile  when  they  observe  citizens  of  the  engineering 
persuasion  providing  labor  of  this  kind.  Would  they  be  better 
satisfied  if  the  profits  of  the  swindle  were  equally  divided  ? 
Some  fear  the  burden  of  these  foolish  transactions  in  cities 
tends  now  to  the  survival  of  the  filthiest. 

The  mere  grading  of  the  surface  with  broken  stone  can  be 
but  a  temporary  amendment  of  the  track  which  is  constantly 
falling  away  at  the  bottom. 

In  districts  long  subject  to  the  sinking  of  stone,  the  use  of 
sand  suggested  here  may  be  bitterly  opposed  by  those  who  have 
found  their  account  for  many  years  in  supplying  the  subter- 
ranean market  described,  as  observed  merely  from  the  surface 
demand.  Millions  have  been  sunk  in  that  worse  than  useless 
way,  as  a  few  careful  experiments  or  cuts  across  streets  will 
show.  From  this  point  of  view  some  old  city  streets  are  as  full 
of  undeveloped  road  industry  as  British  turnpikes  were  in  Mac- 
Adam's  time. 

A  perfect  road — let  us  repeat — can  be  built  on  clay  by  using 
sand  in  place  of  a  large  portion  of  the  bottom  stone,  with  a 
much  less  depth  of  both  than  is  supposed  necessary  of  loose, 
coarse  stone  alone. 

Marshes  covered  with  a  strip  of  sand,  where  no  frost  ever 
enters,  will  float  solid,  water-shedding  stone  road  intact  under 
the  heaviest  travel,  as  a  pontoon  bridge,  rising  and  falling 
across  tidal  waters,  would  float  the  same  well-constructed  stone 
road  (flexible  at  the  ends  next  the  land),  if  only  a  substantial 
bottom  is  provided  for  the  stone  as  good  as  the  sand  will  give 
upon  marshes  free  from  frost.  The  value  of  sand  in  stone  road 
making  is  so  little  known  in  some  sections  that  repetition  will 
be  excused  in  explaining  it  on  paper.  Many  illustrations  of  the 
general  truth  of  what  is  here  stated  will  be  remembered  by 
unbiased  and  thoughtful  workmen. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  125 

Give  them  stone  enough  and  our  steam-roller  brethren  can 
crush  them  in  thin  layers  into  'the  earth  they  have  already  con- 
solidated with  their  tremendous  pressure.  Given  a  rock  bottom, 
and  no  doubt  a  fifteen  ton  roller  will  grind  a  thin  layer  of 
"even-sized  stone  "  to  powder  upon  it.  But  this  is  too  much  of 
a  good  thing.  It  is  a  waste  of  time  and  material  to  make  roads 
in  layers  with  all  that  superfluous  energy.  And  the  awkward 
fact  remains  that  the  body  of  stone  we  want  on  a  road,  if 
screened,  assorted  and  applied  at  once,  will  be  porous.  No  mat- 
ter how  heavily  it  is  rolled,  it  will  be  continually  crumbling,  crawl- 
ing and  wearing  in  its  thousands  of  shackling  internal  joints. 
While  shaking  beneath  the  load  it  carries,  it  will  be  constantly 
settling  in  every  part  of  its  loose  substance,  but  never  well  set- 
tled together.  Nature  hates  a  hole  anywhere,  and  taxpayers  are 
learning  to  despise  the  roadmakers  who  contrive  holes  in  the 
highway.  If  left  to  her  own  devices,  nature  will  keep  trying  to 
fill  the  holes  in  a  porous  road  with  something  or  other.  In  her 
function  of  earth  maker  she  would  like  to  fit  city  streets  to 
grow  grass.  But  the  good  road  man  will  aim  to  stop  that.  He 
knows  that  ice  will  form  in  any  interstices  he  leaves  and  make 
mischief  with  his  work.  Saturated  and  frozen-thawed  clay  of  a 
molasses  consistency  will  gush  up  from  below  into  all  these 
drainage  layer  contrivances,  whether  called  "  Telford  "  or  "  mac- 
adam," and  when  the  clay  comes  up  the  stone  is  bound  to  go 
down  to  fill  its  place.  So  instead  of  remaining  as  rigid  as  a 
rock,  the  porous  stone  road  is  constantly  working,  roughening 
and  getting  out  of  shape  with  every  change  of  climate,  like 
poorly  tanned  leather  or  inferior  wood  or  metal.  The  only  way 
to  prevent  this  is  for  the  road  maker  to  roll  his  well-filled  mate- 
rial solid  with  his  own  cartwheels,  and  never  trust  the  public  to 
do  it. 

In  dry  weather  poroiis  road  work  is  too  dry,  and  so  wears  the 
faster  and  dustier;  having  no  solid  seat  on  the  soil  and  no  capil- 
lary connections,  it  fails  to  receive  that  modicum  of  moisture 
from  below  needed  to  prevent  its  getting  dead  dust  dry  in  hot 


126  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

weather.  But  for  the  "  drainage-layer "  little  or  no  artificial 
watering  would  be  needed,  and  none  at  all  to  preserve  the  road. 
The  idea  of  capillary  moisture  for  roads  may  be  new  to  some 
people.  A  dry  brick  set  on  end  upon  the  ground  will  show  in  a 
few  minutes  how  capillary  moisture  rises.  Whatever  of  damp- 
ness a  solid  rock  road  will  imbibe  from  the  earth  or  air  and  hold, 
is  an  undoubted  benefit  to  its  constitution. 

Mr.  Macadam  failed  to  tell  the  committee  of  Parliament  all 
he  knew  about  roads,  because  it  did  not,  and  probably  did  not 
know  enough  to  question  him  closely.  In  his  instance  of  the 
swamp  road  between  Bristol  and  Bridgewater,  where  broken  stone 
was  proven  to  wear  longer  than  over  a  bed  of  dry  rock,  a  part 
of  the  difference  was,  doubtless,  due  to  the  uniform  condition, 
as  respects  moisture,  of  the  broken  stone  on  the  marsh  road.  A 
certain  amount  of  moisture,  to  remain  in  it,  may  be  said  to  be 
necessary  to  the  life  of  a  stone,  as  it  contributes  to  its  weight 
and  solidity. 

Our  philosophy  of  stone  road  work  has  been  entirely  wrong. 
Building  on  hundreds  or  thousands  of  three-legged  stools,  set 
side  by  side,  would  be  no  worse  in  theory  than  our  reliance  on  a 
bottom  of  loose  "  macadam "  or  "  Telford "  stone,  certain  to 
settle  into  the  ground  sooner  or  later.  Judging  our  faith  by  our 
actions,  we  have  believed  that  if  we  only  kept  piling  on  stone 
enough  we  should  some  time  touch  hard  bottom,  and  till  then 
there  was  no  use  trying  to  smooth  the  surface  of  a  constantly 
sinking  road.  Once  in  a  while  a  street  gets  a  coat  of  small 
stone,  ironed,  but  the  spots  that  went  down  before  soon  go  down 
again,  like  the  foundation  legs  of  the  stools  aforesaid,  which 
have  merely  been  lengthened  at  the  top. 

Could  we  look  under  an  old  stone  road  and  see  the  loose 
material  disconnected  and  hanging  there  (like  the  ragged  edge 
of  the  milky  way),  only  waiting  another  thrust  from  above  in 
the  Spring  of  the  year  to  go  down  still  lower,  we  should  see 
how  these  things  are,  at  once.  Indeed,  the  stones  in  many 
cases  will  settle  of  themselves  (like  plums  in  a  custard  pudding) 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  127 

unless  we  drain  the  clay  and  put  something  there  to  stop  all 
movement  by  preventing  the  earth  from  rising. 

Common  road  business  is  no  more  a  State  than  a  National 
affair.  The  grand  principles  of  it  apply  everywhere  alike. 
Barring  frost — which  acts  little  upon  rocks,  nor  on  the  best  arti- 
ficial stone  floor  roads,  that  are  also  roofs  over  their  own  foun- 
dations— local  road  conditions  in  city  and  country,  North  and 
South,  are  very  much  alike,  and  transcend  all  State  lines.  The 
State  right,  as  well  as  the  town  and  individual  right,  to  go  blun- 
dering in  such  a  universal  concern  as  roads,  is  already  denied  in 
the  minds  of  thoughtful  men.  The  road  doctrine  really  fit  for 
Pennsylvania  will  be  far  better  than  any  we  have  yet  formulated 
for  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  MacAdam  in  his  time  was 
the  great  British  consolidator  of  little  road  trusts  to  secure 
efficient  management. 

Private  road  making  should  not  pass  without  sharp  criticism 
here,  for  its  sins  in  construction,  "reconstruction,"  care  and 
maintenance  add  vastly  to  the  general  confusion.  The  amateur 
road  maker,  around  his  own  house,  in  lawns,  parks  and  in  ceme- 
teries, belongs  to  one  of  our  dangerous  classes.  He  should 
learn  right  away  that  the  water  which  destroys  his  roads  and 
walks  would  fertilize  his  grass.  Also,  that  a  narrow,  rotund 
water-shedding  surface  is  its  own  protector,  and  that  nice  rock 
road  will  need  no  raking,  nor  the  raw  plowman's  mark  of  cut 
turf  edges,  and  only  while  new  an  occasional  stone  picked  up. 
Private  roads  are  worn  out  a  hundred  times  more  by  needless 
surface  water  and  the  pernicious  garden-rake  than  by  all  the 
use  they  get.  Public  mismanagement  of  highways  would  not  be 
so  widely  prevalent  were  it  not  nursed  in  the  wealthiest  private 
places,  so  that  the  eyes  of  children  are  blinded  to  the  most 
staring  highway  evils.  The  boy  who  sails  his  first  boat  in  the 
gutter  walk  to  his  mother's  front  or  back  door  will  grow  up 
accustomed  to  the  guttering  of  earth  roads.  Common  roads 
were  always  a  Slough  of  Despond,  and  so  they  must  continue  to 
be.  We  have  a  larger  nomadic  population  than  the  Turkish 


128  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

empire  has,  bred  from  earliest  childhood  to  be  regardless  of  good 
or  poor  roads.  Is  it  not  worth  while  to  say  that  deep  cut  pri- 
vate roads  and  footpaths  are  survivals  from  the  landless  times 
when  small  suburban  proprietors  played  the  old  gardener's  trick 
of  sinking  the  legs  of  the  spectator  to  enlarge  the  apparent 
extent  of  the  grounds  ? 

Earth  roads  go  to  ruin  everywhere  in  lack  of  surface 
drainage,  and  ready  appliances  for  securing  that,  at  all  commen- 
surate with  the  need  or  the  ingenuity  and  mechanic  contri- 
vances fitted  to  a  hundred  concerns  of  far  less  importance. 

There  are  iron  pipes  enough  for  steam,  gas,  water  and  sew- 
age. Cement  and  clay  pipes  also — but  nothing — absolutely 
nothing — in  this  age  of  mechanics  nicely  fitted  with  silt 
basins  and  heavy  convex  iron  gratings  for  conveying  water 
neatly  and  completely  from  grass  to  grass  beneath  a  walk  or 
road  !  Even  for  city  parks  there  is  nothing  but  some  clumsy, 
costly,  laborious,  and  frequently  not  durable,  effective  or  con- 
venient adjustment  of  stone  and  brick  to  unfit  iron  grates  and 
some  kind  of  paving.  If  from  any  misfit  or  change  of  plan  the 
masonry  is  moved,  the  expensive  structure  tumbles  into  a  heap 
of  ruins  as  if  it  were  only  an  earthen  water  bar. 

Here,  certainly,  is  immediate  and  profitable  work  for  the 
pattern  maker.  Stone  culverts  are  too  bulky  for  many  of  the 
occasions  for  cross-drainage  beneath  highways.  The  low,  rough 
broad  conduit  is  much  more  liable  to  choke  with  silt,  rubbish  and 
ice  in  a  frosty  country  than  the  cheaper  smooth  iron  pipe  would 
be,  near  the  surface,  where  it  can  feel  the  warmth  of  every 
thaw  as  snow  and  ice  does.  Let  us  cordially  invite  iron  men 
into  our  stone  road  councils.  We  can't  get  along  without  them. 
It  is  well  known  that  in  foundries  many  pieces  of  pipe  perfectly 
strong  for  road  work  go  to  the  fire  again  because  slight  defects 
are  found  under  steam  pressure.  With  the  proper  fittings — inlets 
and  outlets — (patent  rights  being  reserved  to  this  new  road 
movement) — there  is  not  a  thriving  town  in  the  United  States 
but  would  buy  a  hundred  of  these  indestructible  conveniences 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  129 

as  soon  as  they  learned  the  use  of  them  for  surface  drainage  of 
highways,  and  save  money  by  it.  As  for  individual  trade — no 
housekeeper  who  can  afford  a  teakettle  and  prizes  a  clean  door- 
step will  be  without  samples  of  the  smaller  sizes  as  soon  as  they 
can  be  introduced. 

Cement  and  vitrified  pipe  are  used  with  success  under 
roads  and  railways,  and  would  be  more  used,  even  for  convey- 
ing considerable  streams,  if  it  was  thoroughly  understood  how 
reliable  they  are  when  immovably  packed  in  gravel,  sand  or 
coal  ashes,  so  that  frost  cannot  disturb  them.  Enclosed  in  a 
perfectly  unyielding  matrix,  they  are  able  to  support  all  needful 
weights.  It  is  difficult  to  get  two  of  a  trade  to  agree,  but  the 
suggestion  here  is  quite  in  order,  that  if  the  different  kinds  of 
earthen  pipe  were  made  to  match,  the  public  would  be  better 
served.  In  the  use  of  earthen  pipes  for  roads  sales  would  be 
larger,  also,  and  those  of  iron  as  well,  if  inlet  and  outlet  pieces 
of  iron  were  made  to  join  with  earthen  pipes  and  take  the  end 
and  outside  friction.  Two  long  iron  bolts  between  the  iron 
ends  would  hold  the  whole  together  under  many  a  highway. 

During  recent  dark  ages,  while  we  have  been  locating  and 
grading  country  roads,  using  the  many  forms  of  road  scrapers 
for  that  business,  ambitious  machine  drivers,  seeing  the  power 
of  moving  dirt  they  could  control  with  a  little  finger,  have 
made  the  tillable  surface  of  the  road  too  wide  in  many  places — 
only  enlarging  the  area  of  mud  and  dust.  With  the  use  of 
broken  stone  and  narrower  roadways  in  many  country  places, 
for  good  wheeling,  grass  for  gutters  and  slopes  of  the  road  will 
naturally  come  in. 

The  children  of  prairie  settlers  do  not  bear  in  mind  how 
well  the  wild  sod  once  upheld  the  wheels  of  travelers,  and  a 
mistaken  notion  has  been  imported  from  less  sunny  climes  than 
ours  that  trees  always  injure  a  highway.  Some  varieties  of 
trees,  on  the  contrary,  both  drain  the  road  and  help  hold  an 
earthern  surface  together  by  their  root  fibres.  Here  is  a  branch 


130  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

of  road  science  quite  neglected — North  and  South,  East  and 
West. 

Those  who  have  observed  woodland  roads  closely  know 
they  are  dry  except  when  below  the  general  grade  of  the  land 
or  actually  swamped  with  water.  At  any  point  of  temperature 
a  tree,  even  in  Winter,  and  without  any  leaves  upon  it,  is  evap- 
orating moisture  from  its  twigs,  branches  and  trunk.  It  must 
freeze  very  deep  to  prevent  all  root  action,  and  whatever 
moisture  roadside  trees  may  draw  from  the  roadbed  will,  by  so 
much,  prevent  the  tendency  to  muddiness  in  any  loam  road 
well  filled  with  tree  roots.  In  private  road  making  the  writer 
applies  bonedust  heavily  in  the  concave  roadbed  to  encourage 
the  root  drainage  of  avenue  shades. 

Beside  the  draining  and  drying  effect  of  tree  roots,  the 
fibres  given  to  the  soil  by  some  kinds  of  trees  (well  known  to 
plowmen  in  all  countries)  have  a  most  salutary  effect  in  holding 
the  earth  together.  If  the  soil  be  rich,  the  whole  substance  of 
the  raised  and  rounded  roadbed  may  be  completely  filled  with 
horizontal  stitches,  as  the  housewife  darns  and  runs  the  heels 
of  stockings,  thus  trebling  their  ability  to  resist  friction. 
Roots  in  the  surface  soil  are  better  than  brush  to  hold  up  travel 
when  they  are  alive  and  pumping  water  out  of  the  ground.  If 
we  are  looking  for  economy,  nothing  can  be  cheaper  than  the 
way  a  maple,  elm,  cottonwood  or  white  pine  will  fill  the  surface 
of  an  earth  road  with  fibre.  The  chestnut,  hickory,  ash,  black 
walnut  and  beach  may  all  be  thought  of  in  this  connection,  but 
only  the  close  student  of  nature,  and  the  adaptation  of  trees  to 
soils  and  situations,  will  succeed  in  this  branch  of  road  making. 
Yet  the  nation  has  many  thousand  miles  of  muddy  highway 
where  no  other  improvement  seems  possible. 

There  is  a  use  for  the  overhanging  branches  of  trees  in 
Winter.  They  shade  the  road  and  permit  it  to  freeze  or  remain 
solid  when,  but  for  the  shadow,  the  road  would  be  softening  in 
the  sun.  The  branches  work  in  this  way  to  prevent  and  protect 
their  roots  from  being  cut  in  pieces.  The  traveler  and  his 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  131 

weary  team,  swamped  in  thawed  earthen  roads,  are  glad  to  reach 
the  frozen  track  on  the  North  side  of  a  bit  of  woodland.  And 
the  man  who  would  cut  away  roadside  shades  so  as  to  let  all 
our  earthen  roads  thaw  out  and  settle  together,  is  very  much 
mistaken. 

Time,  rather  than  money,  would  be  required  to  make  a  per- 
fect tree  road  across  a  tract  of  black  soil,  and  while  the  travel 
was  light  and  the  trees  small,  grass  and  tile-drainage  would 
help  greatly  in  preserving  the  integrity  of  the  rotund  highway, 
made  narrow  and  with  deep  ditches.  The  best  grasses  would 
be  the  natives  of  the  country.  Panicum  virgatum,  andropogon 
provincialis  and  chrysopogon  nutous  are  three  good  ones,  with 
national  reputations.  Agropyrum  repens  and  poa  pratensis 
would  be  bottom  grasses  if  the  soil  was  deep,  moist  and  rich.  The 
extreme  Southern  States  will  have  better  grasses  of  their  own. 
These  would  hold  till  the  trees,  by  their  roots  and  shade,  begin 
to  take  possession,  and  with  proper  management  and  not  too 
much  travel  in  softening  weather,  never  will  quite  give  up  the 
land. 

The  writer  has  so  little  hope  of  being  understood  in  these 
purely  rural  particulars,  that  he  begs  the  attention  of  naturalists, 
and  the  privilege  of  telling  a  story  of  the  London  school-girl, 
Mary  Cooper,  who  was  asked  to  explain  the  word  "  turf,"  a  thing 
she  could  not  have  been  familiar  with  among  London  pave- 
ments : 

1 "  But  Mary  had  plenty  of  determination  ;  she  felt  that  her 
very  life  almost  depended  on  giving  an  answer,  and  she  lost  no 
time  in  exercising  her  little  brain  to  the  utmost  for  some  sort 
of  definition  ;  and  just  as  the  inspector  was  saying,  *  Well,  never 
mind,  child,  I  will  pass  on,'  she  eagerly  exclaimed :  '  Turf,  Sir, 
is  grass  and  clean  dirt  stuck  together  by  God.' ' 

This  definition  gained  the  " highest  mark"  of  the  British 
School  Inspector,  and  the  saying  of  little  Mary  Cooper,  of  Lon- 
don, who  only  knew  turf,  probably,  as  described  by  her  mother 

1  "Very  Original  English,"  Jarrold  and  Sons,  London,  1889. 


132  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

or  grandmother,  will  not  be  taken  amiss  by  the  road  surveyors 
of  broad  America.  And  now  we  may  go  to  our  stone  roads 
with  fresh  determination  to  understand  them. 

A  single  instance  of  private  enterprise  will  show  how  the 
engineering  profession  suffers  for  every  caper  cut  in  its  name, 
and  worse  in  the  country  than  in  town,  because  farmers  are 
sharper  critics  of  earthworks  than  city  people : 

A  certain  country  gentleman  resolved  on  having  the  best 
possible  roads  around  his  house,  and  secured  a  trusty  man,  as 
he  supposed,  out  of  a  metropolitan  city,  to  construct  them  in  a 
scientific  manner.  There  was  no  rock  crusher  to  be  had  then, 
but  the  best  of  road  stones  were  quarried  in  a  difficult  place  at 
a  considerable  distance  and  carted  without  stint.  Following 
his  city  "system,"  this  so-called  " engineer "  had  the  rock  all 
cracked  small  enough  "to  throw  at  a  dog,"  and  screened  and 
assorted  into  four  or  five  different  sizes,  a  la  rock  crusher.  These 
were  placed  like  eggs  in  flat  layers,  each  size  separately  and 
growing  smaller  towards  the  top,  in  the  flat  excavation,  without 
ever  a  wheel  or  a  foot  touching  them — planks  being  used  for 
barrows — till  the  top  was  rounded  with  the  finest  stone,  and  the 
whole  was  heavily  rolled  by  hand  till  everybody  was  tired  of  it. 

The  first  team  to  try  the  new  road  happened  to  be  a  loaded 
four-horse  furniture  wagon,  when,  in  the  words  of  an  eye-wit- 
ness :  "  Hurroo  !  squash  goes  our  Summer's  work  !  knocked 
into  smithereens  !  "  Ruts,  with  excruciating  rock  edges,  were 
the  marked  characteristic  of  that  road  for  many  years,  or  till  it 
was  covered  with  ordinary  gravel.  Stone  road  making  got  its 
quietus  in  one  considerable  section  for  a  ^quarter  of  a  century 
by  that  unfortunate  beginning. 

The  whole  arrangement  by  which  road  stones  are  assorted 
in  too  finical  manufacture  at  the  crusher,  and  divested  of  all 
fine  filling  material  for  the  body  of  the  work,  is  entirely  wrong. 
It  defeats  every  good  purpose,  is  worse  than  useless,  killing  to 
the  life  of  the  work,  and  should  be  changed  at  once.  Where 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  133 

do  the  engineers,  who  are  teaching  that  rock  screenings  adulter- 
ate road  metal,  get  their  authority  ? 

Coarse  and  fine  stone  in  fit  proportions  to  make  solid  work 
should  be  delivered  on  the  road  together.  If  the  proportions  are 
right  in  each  load  there  is  no  harm  if  an  occasional  stone  is  too 
large  for  the  top  of  the  road.  With  proper  hooks,  as  the  loads 
are  dumped  above  grade  on  top  of  the  verge  head  of  the  fill, 
the  large  stones  are  readily  drawn  toward  the  bottom  next  the 
sand  filling,  if  that  is  being  used  on  clay,  leaving  portions  of 
every  load  ready  to  spread  with  shovels  to  the  required  cross 
section.  The  form  of  the  raw  road  metal — the  unfinished  mass 
before  it  is  overrun  much — will  constantly  look  "too  high," 
because  it  must  allow  for  settlement.  The  shape  will  vary  with 
the  width  of  the  road,  the  quality  of  the  metal,  the  location,  the 
nature  of  the  travel  and  the  prejudices  of  people.  The  busy 
end — the  extreme  end — of  a  new  broken  stone  or  gravel  road 
while  it  is  being  fabricated  should  not  have  a  slope  of  more  than 
two  or  three  feet,  except  when  it  is  left  nights  at  a  more  gentle 
incline  for  the  safety  of  travelers.  So  every  objectionable  par- 
ticle can  be  tossed  forward  and  buried.  But  the  good  road 
maker  will  judge  on  the  spot  better  than  all  the  rules  we  can 
write  for  him. 

The  directions  that  are  constantly  given  for  applying  two 
or  more  inches  of  chips  and  rock  dust  to  the  top  of  new  stone 
road  work  are  all  wrong.  If  we  were  not  so  ignorant  and  unre- 
flecting we  should  see  how  that  is  adding  insult  to  injury. 
When  the  body  of  stone  below  has  its  sufficiency  of  fine  mate- 
rial to  fill  its  interstices,  any  surplus  of  chips  and  dust  on  top 
of  the  road  will  be  wasted.  A  hard  surface  to  endure  friction 
cannot  be  made  from  the  fine  rock.  A  mass  of  small  stones 
filled  in,  bound  together  and  thoroughly  well  supported  are  what  is 
needed  to  make  the  road  wear  long  and  smoothly.  It  will  be  the 
faces  of  stone  as  large  as  we  can  use  that  will  give  the  durable 
surface  to  the  road — not  the  rock  dust  by  any  means — that  is 
worn  out  already ;  except  while  clean,  for  the  purpose  of  pack- 


134  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

ing.  The  more  stone  and  the  less  dust  the  better  so  we  make  our 
work  solid,  and  by  the  shuffling  tread  of  teams  and  broad  wheels 
help  as  many  small  stones  as  possible  to  bed  and  fix  themselves  in 
the  surface. 

In  difficult  regions  for  making  stone  roads  solid  and  perma- 
nent, owing  to  a  slippery  soil  and  doubtful  drainage,  the  neces- 
sity for  filling  the  bottom  and  the  whole  substance  of  the  work 
tight  in  every  crevice  is  all  the  more  imperative.  In  that  case 
the  bottom  of  the  road  must  be  made  impervious  to  the  soil  or  the 
top  will  never  hold  a  polish — no  matter  what  road  "  system"  we 
are  working  under.  For  every  particle  of  soil  that  works  up  the 
equivalent  bulk  of  stone  will  go  down,  and  the  surface  must  be 
wrinkled  and  pock-marked  accordingly.  Unless  we  get  that  idea 
under  our  hair  we  never  shall  make  smooth  roads  of  broken 
stone.  To  be  rid  of  hopeless  "  macadam  barnacles"  many  cities 
are  driven  into  asphalt. 

It  may  as  well  be  remembered  for  our  comfort,  all  the 
while,  that  the  smooth  stone  roads  we  are  advocating  will  cost  no 
more  than  rough  ones — not  one  tenth  part  as  much,  really,  when 
the  whole  story  is  told,  and  we  have  all  learned  our  trades — as 
the  abominable  stone  roads  we  are  now  making.  These  alone 
are  fit  to  demoralize  a  nation. 

Does  any  reader  think  we  are  criticising  American  road  work 
too  severely  ?  If  a  knowledge  of  daily  blunders  in  city  streets 
were  as  current  as  cheap  food  is,  there  would  be  no  need  of  this 
criticism.  Our  editorial  brethren  can't  afford  to  meddle  with 
anything  that  looks  like  "  business"  in  the  time  of  it ;  but  they 
do  slam  stable  doors  with  great  noise  after  the  stock  is  gone ! 

For  instance  :  "  Toronto  has  spent  more  than  ten  million 
dollars  macadamizing  streets  which  become  seas  of  mud  after  a 
few  hours'  rain.  Yonge  Street  must  have  had  a  full  million  dol- 
lars of  macadam  put  upon  it.  The  roadway  has  been  a  wretched 
failure  all  through  its  history,  and  now  is  to  be  paved  with  cedar 
blocks.  It  will  actually  cost  the  inhabitants  thousands  of  dollars 
to  get  rid  of  the  macadam  and  put  themselves  in  the  favorable 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  135 

position  they  would  occupy  if  there  were  only  a  dirt  road  to  be 
dealt  with." 

It  is  to  be  feared  the  writer  of  that  paragraph  lost  his  situa- 
tion for  telling  what  was  " too  true"  Toronto  used  limestone. 
The  item  is  quoted  in  Bayler  &  Co.'s  "  Asphalt  Pavements," 
Springfield,  Mass.  Homestead  confesses  (March  22d,  1890),  to 
spending  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  carting  "red 
gravel,"  that  "  in  wet  weather  is  as  wet  as  clay  would  be.  .  .  . 
But  it  was  in  1855  that  the  graveling  craze  was  at  its  height." 
Springfield  is  not  built  on  a  soil  of  stiff  clay,  but  many  streets 
are  now  supplied  by  "  art"  with  the  "  red  gravel,"  which  is  as 
good  as  clay  for  producing  mud  and  a  fine  penetrating  dust. 
Now,  however,  the  same  enterprising  city  authorities  are  going 
into  what  is  called  "  macadam,"  to  be  reported  on  later.  What 
are  these  but  slow  "  confidence  games,"  wasting  the  substance 
and  energy  of  the  people  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  feed  open  spaces  in  the  bottom  and 
centre  of  new  screened  stone  road  work  effectively  by  applying 
chips  and  stone  dust  upon  the  graded  surface.  Jagged  frag- 
ments will  not  run  into  the  open  necks  of  rough  rock  orifices 
like  sand  in  an  hour-glass.  Let  any  person  try  putting  five 
cents  worth  of  Epsom  salts  into  the  smooth  neck  of  a  quart 
bottle,  and  the  difficulty  will  be  manifest.  Pea  sizes  and  shelly 
bits  of  rock,  which  along  with  the  dust  make  perfect  matrices 
for  the  rough  stone  (ever  to  remain  rough,  tough  and  solid  in 
the  body  of  the  road,  till  called  to  endure  surface  friction),  will 
never  rattle,  work  or  wash  down  from  the  top,  except  in  the 
shape  of  fine  dirty  silt,  and  this  will  destroy  the  coherence  of 
all  the  stones  it  touches.  A  macadam  road  maker  will  prevent 
that  peristaltic  action. 

Let  us  repeat  that  the  proportion  of  finer  filling  to  be 
determined  by  experiment  with  each  kind  of  rock,  and  perhaps 
for  each  treatment  and  locality,  must  be  seen  to  at  the  crusher, 
as  every  cart  is  loaded,  and  by  experts  at  the  busy  end  of  the  new 
road.  When  the  road  is  used  there  will  be  no  lack  of  fine  matter 


136  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

upon  its  surface  if  the  structure  of  its  body  is  not  made  like  a 
filter  bed.  These  directions  are  applicable  to  any  "automatic 
spreading  machine"  that  is  built  to  make  a  highway  as  Mac  Adam 
would  have  done  it. 

Wherever  sufficient  fine-rock  filling  for  the  inevitable  crev- 
ices between  broken  stone  is  not  furnished  with  them — taking 
into  account  all  settlement  by  carting  and  rolling — the  presump- 
tion is  that  the  job  is  being  robbed  of  its  dues  either  by  igno- 
rance or  roguery.  While  we  must  continue  to  assert  that 
modern  engineering  and  the  greater  part  of  our  road  literature 
have  been  criminally  careless  in  this  vital  particular,  yet  the 
stuffings  of  earth  and  mud  we  often  see  being  used  by  mis- 
guided workmen,  either  regularly  or  furtively,  to  cover  and  mix 
with  rough  stone,  may  be  a  pitiful  sign  that  common  labor 
knows  something  ought  to  go  among  those  rocks,  rather  than 
of  total  depravity.  Is  it  not  a  modern  case  of  making  bricks 
without  straw  ? 

In  the  common  stone  road  work  we  see  going  on  no  pains 
are  taken  to  provide  fit  packing  for  the  internal  and  bottom 
parts  of  it.  Stick-in-the-mud  roads  are  anticipated.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  a  large  proportion  of  the  stone  will  at  once  sink  in 
the  mud.  Steam-roller  circulars  say:  "Never  mind  the  mud; 
slap  on  the  stone,  and  put  our  roller  to  it."  Shall  we  blame  the 
ignorant  machines,  or  their  masters,  who  promote;  buy  and  set 
them  at  work  ? 

Because  nature  abhors  a  vacuum,  the  proper  packing  of  a 
rock  road  is  often  left  to  take  care  of  itself,  with  some  feeble- 
mindedness about  "drainage  layers,"  which  has  been  noticed  in 
this  paper  before.  But  all  such  half-finished  work  on  slippery 
earth  foundations  is  a  foreordained  failure.  Tongues  of  clay 
thrust  into  the  bottom  of  a  stone  road,  to  be  swollen  by  water  and 
frost,  are  the  entering  wedges  of  certain  destruction. 

MacAdam  told  the  committee  of  Parliament  that  in  reform- 
ing British  roads,  gorged  with  rough  stone,  he  raised  but  four 
inches  of  them  to  break  again.  If  this  was  his  scant  practice 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  137 

over  tenacious  clay  bottoms  and  under  heavy  travel,  it  is  the 
weakest  point  in  his  whole  story.  No  doubt,  some  of  Mac- 
Adam's  old  road  foundations,  mended  too  superficially,  have 
been  sinking  ever  since.  But  we  may  well  question  whether 
his  sterling  principles  had  a  fair  chance  even '  in  his  own  time. 
All  the  sly  frauds  in  England  were  against  him. 

Fine  chips  and  rock  dust  are  in  great  request  for  private 
walks  and  roads,  and  the  reasonable  inference  is,  when  there  is 
none  to  spare  for  ordinary  streets  and  highways,  that  influential 
parties  are  being  favored,  or  that  long  lines  of  streets  that  have 
been  scamped,  to  increase  fees  for  maintenance,  are  howling  for 
temporary  repairs  and  easements  which  cannot  be  put  off  any 
longer. 

The  old  masters  of  road  making  tell  us  that  the  surface  of 
ancient  highways  must  be  roughened  with  picks  to  produce  a 
bond  for  resurfacing.  We  might  have  a  machine  made  for  that 
business — we  already  have  a  very  cumbersome  one — but  retired 
modern  contractors  will  describe,  after  dinner,  a  much  easier 
way  for  them.  Lay  on  a  coat  of  rough  stone  for  the  public  to 
drive  over.  When  we  see  a  mile  of  stone  about  as  big  as  our 
heads  laid  out  for  us  to  bang  at,  we  may  understand  that  the 
contractor  thinks  it  is  our  business  to  dent  each  one  of  those 
rocks  into  the  surface  of  the  old  stone  road  for  him.  When 
that  is  faithfully  and  patiently  done,  by  the  wear  and  tear  of 
our  teams  and  vehicles,  then  the  valuable  contractor  will  proceed 
to  put  on  his  finer  top-dressing !  These  are  the  highway  robbers 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Never  were  worse  maggots  in  the 
hive  of  industry. 

Schools  of  engineering  have  gone  blundering.  Professors 
of  economic  sciences,  who  have  tested  their  own  powers  on 
bicycles,  declare,  "  It  is  mud,  not  grade,  which  makes  common- 
road  transports  cost  a  hundred  times  more  than  by  railway." 
Our  very  text-books  are  evidence  against  us.  Compare  any  of 
them  with  Mac  Adam's  essays,  and  we  shall  see  how  they  have 
kept  us  on  hoary  old  precedents,  degraded  by  topsy-turvy  evo- 


138  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

lution  in  the  peculating  minds  of  public  and  private  servants, 
who  have  studied  most  for  their  own  mistaken  interests. 

It  would  be  a  curious  and  amusing,  but  not  profitable,  labor 
to  show  how,  from  Telford's  craft  (did  he  get  it  from  Mac- 
Adam's  old  English  four-inch-deep,  left-behind  road  bottoms !), 
of  setting  cobble-stone  paving  roots  upward,  to  leak,  beneath 
his  "  macadam,"  we  have  been  led  by  generations  of  thieving 
contractors,  through  shingling  in  reverse  with  flat  stone,  to  catch 
water,  and  random  rip-rapping  of  roadbeds  on  dry  land,  in  view 
of  "porosity,"  to  dropping  stones,  or  anything  we  can  pick  up, 
into  holes — like  Mark  Twain's  bluejays — for  the  pleasure  of 
hearing  them  rattle !  It  is  high  time  for  a  change.  But  if  we 
catch  the  least  hold  of  the  foundation  truths  of  road  making, 
and  study  for  the  whole  of  them  in  practice,  we  shall  find  that 
the  fathers,  here  and  there  in  ages  past,  knew  them  all  better 
than  we  do. 

We  say  little  or  nothing  here  of  the  grade,  shape,  slope, 
width,  depth,  or  length  of  roads.  In  our  view,  these  points  are 
not  of  the  first  importance.  Nor  do  we  enlarge  upon  the  his- 
tory of  road  making.  The  encyclopaedias  are  dry  as  dust  with 
all  that.  History  can  be  written  in  different  ways  ;  but  what 
boots  it  to  prove  that  the  original  lay-outs  of  highways  in  the 
older  States  were  opposed  in  every  way  to  centralization  ?  Or 
that  steam  transit  got  its  first  popularity  because  it  offered  to  let 
everybody  live  where  they  had  a  mind  to — presumably  in  the 
country  ?  Or  for  road  mechanics  to  spend  time  arguing  that 
the  cheapest  and  strongest  form  in  which  road  stone  can  be 
put  on  a  highway,  is  that  of  a  flattened  ellipse,1  while  the 
internal  structure  and  coherence  of  substance  is  utterly  neg- 
lected, common  practice  about  as  far  as  we  can  from  sound 
principles,  and  daily  theories  of  road  fabrics  crazy  as  bedlam  ? 
Let  us  quit  for  a  moment,  the  eternal  laws  of  road  metals,  and 

1  In  a  short,  accompanying  paper,  the  author  gives  reasons  for  a  concave  bottom.  A 
narrow  road  that  will  stand,  is  better  than  a  wider  one  that  will  break  up  and  prove  a  waste  of 
time  and  material.  The  Roman  Empire  did  not  die  of  its  8  x  10  feet  roads. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  139 

consider  the  forms  of  statute  law  proposed  in  several  States. 
These  agree  in  allowing  city  votes  with  country  influences,  to 
induce  rural  townships  to  bond  themselves  in  $4000  a  mile, 
more  or  less,  for  a  network  of  State  roads.  Then,  according  to 
current  notions,  contractors  are  to  sally  out  from  cities  with 
huge  teams,  consisting  of  traction  engines,  ten  to  twenty  auto- 
matic stone-spreading  machines  and  steam  rollers,  in  one  contin- 
uous train,  and  build  said  roads  at  magical  speed.  But  are  these 
machine  roads  to  be  of  the  same  detestable  quality  as  to  rough- 
ness and  costs  for  maintenance  that  cities  now  groan  under? 
And  when  the  promoters  of  these  schemes  have  strewn  the 
country  with  good-for-nothing  highways,  absorbed  town  bonds 
and  made  sure  of  all  the  money,  what  then  ?  In  a  time  of  gen- 
eral depression,  with  the  people  begging  work  and  bread,  shall 
we  be  looking  for  the  second  coming  of  MacAdam  to  teach  us 
how  to  make  the  best  of  jobs  by  overhauling  those  roads,  as  he 
taught  the  engineers  and  governments  of  former  times  ?  Let  it 
be  respectfully  suggested  that  now  is  the  time  to  learn  how  to 
make  the  best  roads,  before  we  have  disgraced  ourselves  any 
more. 

There  is  a  view  of  the  social  and  individual  life  of  a  people, 
the  life  that  lies  at  a  foundation  of  lasting  State  and  National 
life  (the  life  our  fathers  taught  and  warned  us  against  losing 
eternally),  which  must  not  be  forgotten  in  connection  with  road 
making  and  road  legislation,  and  especially  in  regard  to  the  way 
road  law  is  executed.  That  view,  including  country  highways, 
we  get  a  practical  glimpse  of  in  the  New  York  Semi-  Weekly 
Tribune  of  February  25th,  1890: 

GENEROUS    RIVALRY   FOR   ROADS. 

After  studying  the  question  in  every  possible  light,  I  am  of  the  opinon 
that  the  most  feasible  way  to  keep  roads  in  condition  would  be  to  hold  each 
person  responsible  for  that  portion  which  extends  through  or  alongside  his 
farm.  There  would  be  much  more  road-working  than  now,  and  with  better 
result.  I  have  conversed  with  several  farmers,  and  they  agree  unanimously 
that  this  would  be  just  the  thing  to  do.  A  generous  rivalry  would  spring. up 
between  those  who  possess  any  enterprise  to  see  which  should  maintain  the 


140  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

best  piece  of  highway.  The  road  commissioner  could  direct  what  should  be 
done,  and  if  anyone  neglected  to  perform  what  is  required,  the  officer  should 
have  power  to  do  it  himself  and  charge  cost  to  the  delinquent.  Extra  work 
could  be  done  by  the  towns,  as  now.  In  any  disputes  as  to  divisions  of  sec- 
tions where  different  persons  own  on  opposite  sides  of  the  road,  the  commis- 
sioner's adjustment  should  be  final.  Being  responsible  for  a  certain  section 
would  be  an  incentive  to  each  to  study  ways  and  means  to  keep  his  portion 
in  best  condition,  and  he  could  do  most  of  the  labor  at  odd  spells,  and 
scarcely  feel  it.  Nobody  seems  to  be  responsible  for  the  roads  now  ;  what  is 
everybody's  business  is  nobody's,  and  all  who  travel  suffer  the  consequence. 

GAI,EN  WII^SON. 

Instead  of  being  governments  for  and  by  the  people,  our 
governments  are  slowly  drifting  toward  being  chiefly  for  them- 
selves. The  writer  above  quoted  shows  us  how  we  may  adopt 
our  road  laws,  in  executing  them,  so  as  to  revive  public  spirit, 
abate  inequalities  and  make  every  rural  district  a  nursery  of 
road  makers. 

While  we  have  been  forgetting  and  subverting  the  road 
principles  of  MacAdam,  we  have  also  forgotten  and  perverted 
the  wisdom  of  the  fathers  in  making  every  citizen  a  statesman 
and  a  pillar  of  the  republic.  He  is  a  traitor  who  would  wean 
the  people  from  the  care  of  their  State  highways.  State  roads, 
like  national  marines,  must  grow  out  of  the  hearts  and  Jives  of 
our  men  and  women,  and  he  will  be  our  saviour  who  will  lead 
lawmakers  back  by  slow  and  painstaking  methods  to  the  care  of 
rural  byways  and  highways.  Though  he  might  never  use  it 
again,  General  Grant,  when  elected  to  the  presidency,  suggested 
to  a  committee  of  his  ambitious  townsmen,  who  wanted  to  do 
something,  that  they  might  fix  his  old  walk  to  the  post-office  ! 

Why  should  we  look  to  foreign  examples  instead  of  working 
out  our  own  safety,  with  the  immense  means  and  all  the  time 
there  is  on  our  hands  ?  What  country  road  models  has  Eng- 
land, for  instance,  to  offer  us  ?  Here  is  Richard  Jefferies'  last 
book  saying  : 

.  "  The  farmers  in  New  York  State  and  Massachusetts  can 
grow  apples,  pack  them  in  barrels,  dispatch  them  two  thousand 
eight  hundred  miles  to  Liverpool,  and  they  can  be  scattered  all 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  141 

over  the  country  and  still  sold  cheaper  than  the  produce  of 
English  orchards.  This  is  an  extraordinary  fact,  showing  the 
absolute  need  of  speedy  and  cheap  transit  to  the  English  farmer 
if  he  is  to  rise  again.  Of  what  value  is  his  proximity  to  the 
largest  city  in  the  world  ?  Of  what  value  is  it  if  he  is  only  ninety 
miles  from  London,  if  it  costs  him  more  to  send  his  apples 
about  ninety  miles  than  it  does  his  American  kinsman  very 
nearly  three  thousand  ?" 

Richard  Jefferies  is  dead.  It  is  said  he  was  allowed  to 
starve  because  he  would  write  things  as  he  saw  them  in  real 
life  rather  than  as  they  appeared  some  time  ago  in  books.  For 
truth  is  a  relative  thing,  and  as  Jefferies  would  hold  the  glass  to 
actual  British  back  hair,  mere  bookworms  and  readers  of  jour- 
nalistic echoes  could  not  appreciate  his  finest  points  quite  at 
once.  He  may  be  quoted  yet  as  an  advocate  for  steam  traction 
on  common  roads — an  excellent  thing  in  fit  places,  no  doubt. 
But  he  didn't  know  all  the  circumstances  of  that  apple  trade. 
He  didn't  know  that  those  "  cheap  "  American  apples  were 
stolen  by  one  of  the  confidence  games,  that  when  played  on  a 
large  scale  pass  for  commerce.  Jefferies  didn't  know  that  the 
American  grower  and  packer  barely  received  in  return  enough 
to  pay  for  the  shingle  nails  used  in  heading  his  barrels.1 

Slow  stone  road  making,  like  slow  agriculture,  to  pay  must 
be  guided  by  the  rising  fixed  stars  of  trade,  rather  than  by  the 
occasional  comets  and  meteors  that  dash  across  our  paths.  Man 
i'1.  everywhere  alike  in  preferring  to  be  blundered  out  of  a  hun- 
dred dollars  rather  than  cheated  out  of  a  cent.  The  American 
orchardists  who  "  co-operated  "  in  making  sweet  cider  cheaper  in 
the  streets  of  British  cities  than  at  their  own  doors,  will  bear 
the  fact  in  mind  for  generations.  The  kings  of  American  com- 
merce should  know  that  our  agricultural  peasantry  of  the  future, 
selected  and  manufactured  from  the  alert  of  two  hemispheres, 
hunted  and  haunted  by  all  the  tricks  of  trade,  are  destined  to 
become,  and  are  becoming,  the  keenest  rural  residents  that  ever 
stood  on  earth.  Local  truth  only  will  do  for  them. 

1  See  Secretary  Gold  in  Connecticut  Farmer. 


I42  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

We  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  rattled  by  the  lunacies, 
mistakes  or  frauds  of  a  period  of  general  confusion.  These  are 
simply  calculated  to  try  men's  souls,  as  well  as  their  roads,  and 
show  the  stuff  whereof  both  are  made.  What  we  want  is  easy 
and  permanent  wheeling.  This  depends,  first :  on  the  material 
of  the  road,  the  way  it  is  put  together,  and  how  it  is  supported. 
But  if  roads  are  to  be  treated '  originally  merely  as  a  basis  for 
repairs,  patches,  and  continual  taxation  for  maintenance — the 
everlasting  presence  of  a  standing  army  of  pottering  road- 
menders — we  neither  want  them  nor  their  work.  Both  are  nui- 
sances to  be  abolished,  rather  than  necessary  evils  to  be  endured. 

The  infinite  pains,  care  and  cost  given  to  the  maintenance 
of  surfaces  on  stone  roads,  whose  bottoms  are  continually  set- 
tling, may  be  likened  to  the  expense  and  trouble  of  puttying 
and  plastering  cracks  in  the  walls  of  edifices  whose  foundations 
are  constantly  sinking.  Who  can  take  pride  in  either? 

The  idea  most  generally  accepted  at  present  about  stone 
roads  among  ordinarily  studious  people,  seems  to  be  that  the 
mysterious  going  down  of  bottom  stone  into  clay  is  unavoidable 
— perhaps  "unknowable."  Daring  investigators,  intellectually, 
say  these  wandering  stones  have  about  the  same  effect  in  anchor- 
ing a  highway  that  the  driving  of  piles  through  quicksands  into 
the  deep  hardpan  have  in  steadying  a  building.  To  such  among 
others  this  paper  is  respectfully  dedicated. 

We  don't  want  the  country  governed  by  its  ignorant  streets 
as  cities  are,  but  by  its  intelligent  people,  hence  there  must  be 
a  diffusion  of  knowledge  as  to  the  texture  and  structure  of 
highways. 

Those  who  will  have  the*  substance  of  a  road  essay  reduced 
to  the  brevity  of  a  telegram  or  a  newspaper  scrap  to  stick  in 
their  hats,  will  find  the  gist  of  this  one  in  the  following  sentence: 

The  best  stone  roads  will  have  thorough  drainage,  and  a 
bottom  impermeable  to  clay,  covered  with  a  smooth,  water-shed- 
ding, floor  roof,  of  pure,  hard,  crushed  rock,  rolled  solid  by  broad- 
tired  carts,  delivering  stone  fine  enough  to  fill  its  own  interstices, 
and  large  enough  to  endure  travel. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


HONORABLE  MENTION.     PAPER  No.  13. 


EDWIN  SATTERTHWAIT, 

President  Cheltenham  and  Willow  Grove  Turnpike, 
Jenkintown,  Penna. 


As  there  has  been  already  enough  written  and  published 
on  the  subject  of  road  making  and  subjects  connected  there- 
with to  make  a  respectable-sized  library,  and  as  all  of  these  are 
more  or  less  valuable,  and  most  of  them  within  reach  of  all 
who  may  desire  to  gain  information  on  the  subject,  it  would 
seem  as  though  about  all  had  been  done  in  that  direction  that 
could  be  done  to  further  the  greatly-desired  object — of  improv- 
ing our  roads.  Road  making  cannot  be  learned  wholly  from 
books.  Like  every  other  mechanical  art,  the  only  way  to  learn 
how  to  do  it  is  to  do  it.  There  are,  however,  some  questions  of 
vital  importance  which  continually  present  themselves  in  the 
practical  operation  of  the  construction  and  maintenance  of 
roads,  which,  though  they  have  been  discussed  by  the  most 
renowned  experts  since  road  making  began  to  assume  the 
dignity  of  a  science,  cannot  yet  be  considered  as  satisfactorily 
settled,  and  which  can  only  be  solved  by  the  light  of  observa- 
tion and  experience ;  and  there  is  much  information  needed  of 
a  local  nature,  such  as  the  relative  value  of  materials  required 
that  may  be  within  reach  of  a  given  locality,  as  well  as  the  best 
mode  of  using  these,  and  I  shall  endeavor  to  confine  myself  to 
such  questions  of  a  practical  nature  as  I  have  gained  informa- 
tion upon  from  personal  observation  and  actual  experience. 

As  to  our  common  dirt  roads.  Bad  as  they  are,  and  difficult 

(143) 


144  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

as  it  may  be  to  make  them  much  better  than  they  are,  they  will 
have  to  be  for  a  long  time,  with  a  few  exceptions,  the  only 
obtainable  thoroughfare  for  all  country  districts.  It  is  only  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  large  cities  that  the  means  can 
be  obtained  for  the  making  and  maintaining  of  a  high  class  of 
artificial  roads.  It  is,  therefore,  of  the  highest  importance  that 
whatever  can  be  done  should  be  done  toward  the  improvement 
of  our  common  roads.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  subject  that  has 
more  perplexed  our  legislators  and  all  public-spirited  citizens 
than  this.  A  vast  amount  of  what  has  been  lately  published 
about  roads  has  been  in  relation  to  this  branch  of  our  subject, 
and  any  amount  of  suggestions  (many  of  them  rather  vague 
and  indefinite,  it  must  be  confessed)  have  been  sown  broadcast, 
but,  unfortunately,  with  no  practical  results.  No  clearly-defined 
practical  means  has  yet  been  devised  to  put  a  stop  to  the  shame- 
ful manner  in  which  money  is  squandered  on  our  country  roads, 
and  no  good  results  obtained.  Almost  every  State  has,  I  be- 
lieve, a  different  system  of  road  laws,  but  in  all,  I  believe,  the 
complaint  is  the  same.  Much  money  is  spent,  and  very  little 
to  show  for  it.  I  have  very  little  to  propose  in  the  way  of  legis- 
lation. I  am  afraid  the  trouble  lies  deeper.  What  is  wanted  is 
more  honesty.  If  we  could  have  supervisors  honest  enough  to 
insist  on  having  a  good  day's  work  from  every  one  employed  on 
the  road,  the  same  as  if  working  for  themselves,  and  men  honest 
enough  to  do  as  good  a  day's  work  when  working  on  the  roads 
as  when  working  elsewhere — that  is  the  only  thing  I  can  see 
that  would  remedy  the  evil.  If,  instead  of  the  present  system 
of  a  dozen  or  twenty  men  doing  what  three  or  four  could  and 
should  do,  the  supervisor  would  keep  two  or  three  good  men, 
who  understand  how  and  would  do  a  good  day's  work,  con- 
stantly employed  in  going  over  the  roads  of  the  township 
making  repairs  as  soon  as  they  were  needed,  this,  with  the  fre- 
quent use  of  the  road  machine,  would  keep  the  dirt  roads  in 
good  condition  for  less  money  than  is  now  spent  on  them.  I 
believe  that  all  are  now  agreed  that  the  " working  out  of  taxes" 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  J45 

should  be  abolished,  and  that  the  supervisor  should  be  allowed 
to  employ  whom  he  pleased,  and  none  but  good  men.  It  might 
also  be  a  change  for  the  better  to  elect  the  supervisor  for  a 
longer  term  than  one  year,  as  one  great  trouble  now  seems  to 
be  that  it  keeps  him  busy  all  the  time  looking  out  for  his  elec- 
tion for  the  next  term,  and  the  fear  of  losing  a  vote  is  apt  to  be 
a  stronger  motive  than  the  desire  for  the  public  good.  With 
these  two  changes  our  present  system  in  Pennsylvania,  of  two 
supervisors  in  each  township,  with  the  entire  charge  of  the 
roads,  is  perhaps  as  good  as  any  other.  It  is  frequently  sug- 
gested that  the  roads  should  be,  in  some  undefined  manner, 
under  the  charge  of  State  or  county  officials.  I  cannot  see  any 
good  that  could  result  from  this,  except  the  creation  of  a  host 
of  good  fat  offices  to  help  run  the  political  machine. 

I  am  aware  that  in  some  other  countries  (notably  in  France) 
they  have  a  far  more  perfect  system  managed  by  the  State  with 
admirable  results ;  but  until  we  shall  succeed  in  purifying  our 
political  atmosphere  very  greatly  such  a  system  would  not  work 
successfully  here,  and  it  would  be  the  height  of  folly  to  attempt 
it.  In  the  vicinity  of  large  cities  and  in  the  thickly  populated 
country  districts,  where  the  amount  of  traffic  is  so  great  as  to 
make  a  better  class  of  roads  a  necessity,  the  case  is  different. 
And  I  think  it  might  be  well  to  authorize,  by  law,  such  town- 
ships as  might  decide  to  do  so  to  borrow  money  sufficient  to 
grade  and  macadamize,  from  time  to  time,  their  leading  and 
most  traveled  roads.  They  have  such  a  law  now  in  New  Jersey 
applicable  to  counties,  which  seems  to  be  very  satisfactory ;  but 
here  in  Pennsylvania  it  would  be  better  left  to  the  townships. 

In  considering  the  subject  of  improved  artificial  roads  the 
first  question  that  suggests  itself  is  that  of  the  ways  and  means, 
as  these  improvements  are  very  costly,  and  much  money  is 
required  somehow  to  be  raised.  And  the  first  thing  to  be  set- 
tled seems  to  be,  shall  all  roads  for  the  future  be  free  from  tolls, 
or  shall  we  go  on,  as  heretofore,  forming  chartered  companies, 
and  have  the  roads  maintained  by  the  tolls  collected  from  those 

10 


146  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

who  use  them  ?  Notwithstanding  the  unpopularity  of  this  sys- 
tem, and  the  horror  that  most  people  seem  to  have  of  paying 
toll,  this  seems  yet  to  be  the  most  feasible  plan,  as  far  as  it  can 
be  done,  and  is  certainly  as  just  and  fair  in  its  operation  as  any 
other  scheme  of  taxation  that  could  be  devised.  Good  roads 
are  expensive  to  construct  and  maintain,  and  there  would  seem  to 
be  no  fairer  way  of  obtaining  the  means  to  do  this  than  by  those 
using  the  road  paying  in  proportion  to  their  use  of  it.  I  think, 
therefore,  that  until  some  better  plan  can  be  devised,  legislation 
should  be  in  the  direction  of  encouraging  the  formation  of 
stock  companies  for  making  improved  roads,  rather  than  the 
opposite  policy,  which  many  seem  to  favor.  That  good  turn- 
pike roads  are  of  more  advantage  to  the  public  who  use  them 
than  they  are  generally  to  the  stockholders,  there  cannot  be  a 
shadow  of  doubt.  In  the  suburbs  of  large  cities  I  know  of  no 
way  in  which  capital  could  be  invested  to  pay  a  better  percent- 
age to  the  public  than  by  the  construction  and  maintenance  of 
the  best  class  of  artificial  roads  in  the  place  of  such  dirt  roads 
as  are  common,  say  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Philadel- 
phia. I  am  tempted  here,  in  illustration  of  this,  to  give  a  little 
experience  of  my  own  which  occurred  within  a  few  months 
past.  I  happened  to  have  some  hauling  to  do  (a  boatload, 
thirty-five  tons,  of  salt  hay)  for  a  distance  of  seven  miles,  four 
or  five  miles  of  which  were  over  dirt  roads  in  the  city.  This, 
over  fairly  good  macadamized  roads,  could  have  been  done  with 
ease,  with  the  teams  employed,  in  three  days,  at  a  cost  of  $50. 
But  on  account  of  the  condition  of  these  city  roads — being  hub 
deep  in  mud,  so  that  the  empty  wagons  were  a  load  for  the 
teams — it  took  two  weeks  to  do  the  work,  at  a  cost  of  $200,  and 
the  horses  were  then  nearly  used  up.  This  was  more  than  the 
whole  thing  was  worth,  and,  of  course,  put  a  stop  to  that  busi- 
ness. These  roads,  remember,  were  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
I  feel  satisfied  that  the  loss  to  the  community  from  the  bad 
condition  of  these  roads  during  the  past  year,  in  the  loss  of 
time  and  extra  wear  of  horses  and  vehicles,  and  the  loss  from 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.    .  147 

business  that  had  to  be  abandoned  altogether  on  account  of  the 
state  of  the  roads,  would  make  a  sum  of  itself  sufficient  to 
macadamize  many  miles  of  them.  And  I  will  here  make  a 
suggestion :  Let  the  city  borrow,  say  a  million  dollars,  which 
would  make  a  hundred  miles  of  the  very  best  Telford  road, 
and  use  it  on  the  most  traveled  roads  of  their  suburbs.  These 
roads  could  afterward  be  maintained  in  perfect  order  with  the 
money  that  is  now  annually  spent  on  them,  and  the  increase  in 
the  value  of  property  from  this  improvement  would  at  once 
bring  an  increase  in  taxes  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  the 
interest  on  its  cost,  and  the  rapid  and  permanent  increase  in 
all  suburban  real  estate  which  would  follow,  and  the  increase 
in  taxes,  would  soon  doubly  repay  the  city  for  the  outlay.  I 
know  it  will  be  objected  that  the  exigencies  of  machine  politics 
are  such  that  if  this  was  attempted  and  the  money  appropriated, 
there  would  soon  be  little  to  show  for  it ;  but  I  happen  to  know 
that  there  are  parties  engaged  in  the  business,  who  are  in  every 
way  responsible,  who  would  contract  to  Telfordize  in  the  best 
manner  one  hundred  miles  of  Philadelphia's  suburban  roads 
for  the  sum  named  ($1,000,000),  and  would  contract  to  keep 
them  in  perfect  order  for  a  long  term  of  years  at  a  very  rea- 
sonable cost,  probably  less  than  they  are  now  costing  the  city. 

This  subject  of  road  making  and  maintenance,  I  suppose, 
is  only  intended  to  apply  to  country  roads,  and  not  to  street 
paving,  and  when  we  come  to  speak  of  improved  or  artificial 
roads  only  those  surfaced  with  broken  stone  need  here  be  con- 
sidered. Gravel  has,  it  is  true — where  that  is  easily  obtained, 
and  for  want  of  something  better — been  very  much  used,  and 
to  great  advantage  in  improving  roads,  but  I  believe  that  even 
in  those  parts  of  New  Jersey  where  gravel  roads  have  so  much 
obtained,  these  will,  before  long,  be  superseded  by  the  use  of 
that  best  of  all  materials,  trap  rock,  of  which  the  State  pos- 
sesses an  inexhaustible  supply,  and  which  is  now  being  devel- 
oped so  extensively  for  road-making  purposes. 

On  the  subject  of   constructing   stone-surfaced   roads   so 


148  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

much  has  been  said,  and  all  the  details  are  set  forth  so  volumi- 
nously in  the  many  valuable  works  that  have  been  published 
on  the  subject,  that  it  would  be  folly  to  speak  of  it  here  except 
on  a  few  points,  which  are  still  controverted  and  would  seem 
to  bear  further  investigation.  One  of  these  disputed  points  is, 
whether  the  material  used  in  surfacing  a  road  should  be  all 
broken  small  and  of  uniform  size,  or  should  have  a  foundation 
of  larger  stones  covered  with  those  finely  broken.  The  first  of 
these  systems,  called  macadamizing,  has  derived  its  name  from 
one  who  has,  perhaps,  done  more  than  any  other  who  ever  lived 
to  enlighten  the  world  on  the  subject  and  give  an  impetus  to 
the  improvement  of  roads.  Stoned  roads,  before  the  time  of 
MacAdam,  with  a  few  exceptions,  were  made  without  any  pre- 
tence of  scientific  construction,  and  were  composed  of  stones 
thrown  together  promiscuously,  and  though  making  a  surface 
over  which  horses  and  vehicles  could  clamber  without  actually 
sticking  fast  in  the  mud,  were  described  by  writers  of  the  time 
as  the  most  horrible  of  inventions  that  could  be  conceived. 
MacAdam,  though  not  the  first  to  discover  the  advantages  of 
having  the  surface  of  a  road  covered  evenly  with  stone  broken 
small  and  of  uniform  size,  was  the  first  to  bring  this  system 
into  prominent  notice,  and,  being  very  energetic  and  persever- 
ing, he  succeeded  in  creating  a  complete  revolution  in  road 
making,  not  only  in  Great  Britain  but  in  the  civilized  world. 
The  peculiar  system  of  MacAdam  consisted  in  having  all  the 
stone  on  the  roads  he  constructed  broken  quite  small — six 
ounces  in  weight  being  the  largest  limit — and  after  the  road 
was  properly  graded,  so  as  to  insure  perfect  drainage  and  a 
slight  convexity  of  surface,  these  were  spread  over  the  ground 
evenly  at  a  depth  of  from  five  to  ten  inches,  without  any  admix- 
ture of  earth,  gravel  or  anything  whatever,  and  nothing  to  be 
laid  on  the  clean  stone  on  pretence  of  binding,  and  never  with 
any  stone  or  anything  else  by  way  of  foundation.  He  persist- 
ently insisted  that  clean  broken  stone  will  combine  by  its  own 
angles  into  a  smooth,  solid  surface  that  cannot  be  affected  by 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  149 

vicissitudes  of  weather  or  displaced  by  the  action  of  frost. 
MacAdam  always  contended  that  stones  laid  in  this  manner 
would,  with  the  travel  over  them,  become  bound  together  so 
firmly  and  compactly  as  to  become  entirely  impervious  to  water. 
And  this,  he  contended,  was  the  whole  secret  of  road  making — 
the  great  object  being  to  keep  the  earth  dry,  the  only  use  of 
the  stones  being  to  form  a  roof  for  this  purpose ;  for  he  says 
that,  after  all,  it  is  the  ground  that  is  the  road,  and  must  bear 
the  weight  of  the  stones  as  well  as  the  vehicles  passing  over  it. 
And  he  says  nothing  can  make  so  good  a  road  as  dry  earth, 
and  that  the  thickness  of  the  coating  should  only  be  regulated 
by  the  quantity  of  the  material  necessary  to  form  such  imper- 
vious covering,  and  never  by  reference  to  its  own  power  of 
carrying  weight.  And  he  further  contends  that  the  wear  of 
the  road,  from  the  travel  over  it,  is  very  much  greater  where 
the  surface  coating  is  underlaid  with  an  unyielding  substance, 
as  on  a  rock,  than  when  on  a  slightly  elastic  foundation,  such 
as  dry  earth.  And  for  this  reason  he  always  objected  to  a 
stone  foundation  of  any  kind,  and  insisted  that  these  tended  to 
let  in  the  water  to  the  earth  below,  which  was  the  destruction 
of  the  road.  He  says  that  he  had  always  considered  such  a 
foundation  as  a  useless  and  unnecessary  expense,  but  experi- 
ence had  proven  it  to  be  positively  injurious.  And  for  the 
same  reason  he  never  allowed  any  clay  or  other  substance 
mixed  with  the  stones,  as  he  said  it  tended  to  make  the  coat- 
ing more  pervious  to  water.  Mr.  MacAdam  goes  so  far  as  to 
assert — and  he  proves  it,  too,  by  the  strongest  testimony — that 
he  has  constructed  miles  of  road  on  this  principle  over  bogs 
and  marshes  without  any  foundation  whatever,  and  they  not 
only  maintained  the  travel  and  lasted  well,  but  that  the  wear 
was  much  less  than  on  the  same  road  where  it  passed  over  hilly 
and  rocky  ground. 

Perhaps  the  most  astonishing  thing  which  MacAdam  claims 
for  his  roads  is  the  small  depth  of  the  stone  he  considered  neces- 
sary. This  road  over  a  bog  was  only  from  seven  to  ten  inches 


150  *  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

thick,  and  he  sometimes  speaks  of  four  and  even  three  inches 
being  sufficient  in  some  situations.  I  can  only  reconcile  this 
with  my  own  experience,  on  the  supposition  that  in  England 
the  roads  are  not  near  so  liable  to  be  injured  by  deep  freezing 
as  in  this  country,  though  MacAdam  insists  that  if  the  water 
is  rigidly  excluded  from  the  ground  below,  the  frost  will  not 
harm  the  road.  Though  the  system  of  MacAdam,  which  I 
have  briefly  described,  is  not  now  generally  practiced,  and  may 
not  be  the  best  for  this  country,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  but 
that  it  has  great  merit.  With  slight  modifications,  it  was  gen- 
erally adopted  in  France,  where  they  have  the  best  roads  in  the 
world. 

The  Telford  system  of  road  making,  which  is  now  the  most 
common  in  use  here,  differs  from  the  MacAdam  in  having  a 
foundation  first  made  in  the  shape  of  a  roughly-laid  pavement 
of  stone  six  or  eight  inches  in  depth — this  being  covered  first 
with  stone  coarsely  broken,  and  then  with  a  coat  broken  quite 
small,  and  this  covered  with  a  coat  of  gravel  or  screenings 
from  the  breaker,  and  the  whole  compacted  with  a  steam  or 
other  heavy  iron  roller.  It  is  the  common  practice  to  mix  some 
clay  with  the  broken  stone  in  making  this  kind  of  roads,  to 
help  combine  the  whole  into  a  solid  mass.  A  road  of  this 
class,  when  carefully  constructed  and  of  the  proper  materials, 
may  be  considered  the  perfection  of  a  country  road.  In  con- 
sidering the  relative  merits  of  these  two  systems  I  have  been 
led  to  the  conclusion  that  for  most  situations  in  this  country  a 
road  on  the  Telford  plan  would  be  the  least  costly  and  answer 
as  well  or  better.  In  this  climate,  where  frost  is  liable  to  pene- 
trate very  deep,  I  doubt  whether  a  covering  of  the  depth  that 
MacAdam  specifies  would  be  sufficient,  and  where  a  depth  of  a 
foot  or  more  of  stone  is  necessary,  if  one-half  of  these  may  be 
of  unbroken  stone  and  of  a  cheaper  quality — as  is  allowable  in 
a  Telford  road — a  considerable  saving  may  be  made  in  the  cost ; 
and  it  does  look  reasonable  to  suppose  that  a  foundation  of 
large  stone,  if  properly  laid,  would  better  resist  the  tendency 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  151 

of  heavily  loaded  vehicles  to  press  them  into  the  earth  and 
form  ruts  on  the  surface. 

I  can  only  reconcile  the  theory  of  MacAdam,  that  a  mix- 
ture of  any  kind  of  refuse  with  the  stones  is  unnecessary  and 
positively  hurtful,  on  the  supposition  that  his  experience  was 
not  with  stone  of  the  hardest  and  best  quality.  I  consider  it 
most  probable  that  in  his  experience,  which  consisted  largely 
in  lifting  the  stones  from  old  roads,  and  having  them  finely 
broken  and  properly  replaced,  that  much  of  this  material  was 
of  a  kind  that  soon  ground  up  with  the  traffic  over  them  and 
afforded  material  for  consolidating  the  mass.  My  experience 
has  taught  me  that  when  the  material  used  is  not  of  the  best 
quality  it  will  consolidate  more  readily  than  that  which  is 
harder  and  better.  It  was  demonstrated  in  making  the  roads 
in  the  New  York  Central  Park — where  the  hardest  and  best  of 
stone  that  could  be  obtained  was  used — that  no  amount  of 
rolling  would  compact  it,  when  this  was  tried  according  to 
MacAdam's  theory  of  carefully  excluding  all  dirt  and  other 
foreign  substance.  The  experiments  on  these  roads  were  very 
interesting,  and  the  result  quite  important,  as  they  prove, 
beyond  all  doubt,  that  very  hard  broken  stone  will  not  combine 
by  its  own  angles  into  a  smooth,  solid  surface.  The  experi- 
ment here  was  pushed  to  the  extreme  of  wearing  out  the  stone 
by  abrasion,  and  had  to  be  abandoned. 

I  think  it  may  now  be  considered  as  settled  that  where  the 
best  material  for  road  making  is  used,  such  as  good  trap  rock, 
or  even  the  best  quality  of  furnace  slag,  the  screenings  from 
these  or  some  other  substances  must  be  used  to  help  consolidate 
them.  And,  again,  when  we  consider  that  the  interstices  in  a 
body  of  loose  broken  stone  comprise  one-half  the  bulk  of  the 
mass,  and  when  pressed  as  solid  as  it  is  possible  to  get  them, 
the  open  spaces  comprise  one-fourth  of  the  bulk  of  the  mass, 
it  is  hard  to  conceive  how  this  can  be  impervious  to  water,  as 
MacAdam  says  it  will  be,  unless  the  crevices  are  filled  with 
something. 


152  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

As  regards  the  maintenance  of  a  road  of  this  class,  it 
seems  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  way  to  keep  it  good  is 
never  to  let  it  get  bad.  In  nothing  is  the  old  adage  of  "a 
stitch  in  time"  more  applicable.  Every  Telford  or  Mac  Adam 
road  should  be  watched  over  by  a  careful  superintendent,  with 
material  always  at  hand  to  level  up  and  smooth  over  all  ine- 
qualities as  they  appear.  This  is  not  only  the  best,  but  it  is, 
by  far,  the  most  economical  method  of  keeping  a  road  in  repair, 
for  there  is  nothing  more  clearly  demonstrated  than  that  the 
wear  of  a  road  increases  in  a  geometrical  ratio  as  its  condition 
deteriorates.  It  will,  however,  sometimes  happen,  where  the 
travel  is  very  heavy  and  continuous,  that  the  road  will  become 
so  worn  as  to  require  a  complete  resurfacing.  It  is  recom- 
mended in  that  case  that  the  surface  of  the  old  bed  be  slightly 
loosened  up  with  the  pick  before  the  new  material  is  spread  on, 
so  that  the  whole  will  combine  better  and  form  a  solid  mass. 
There  are  how  machines  in  use  for  doing  this,  in  the  shape  of 
a  steam  roller  with  a  pick  attachment,  which  are  said  to  do  the 
work  better  at  a  great  saving  of  labor.  The  advantage  of  com- 
pacting a  road  with  the  roller  before  it  is  used  for  traffic  is  so 
obvious  as  to  require  nothing  more  to  be  said  on  it.  If  not 
done  with  the  roller,  it  must  be  done  by  the  travel,  which  is 
bad  for  the  road — as  it  wears  away  rapidly  in  the  process — and 
bad  for  those  who  use  the  road  to  be  compelled  to  do  at  their 
own  cost  what  should  be  done  by  those  having  charge  of  the 
road. 

The  questions  of  the  materials  to  be  used,  and  how  to 
obtain  them,  are  of  the  greatest  importance  in  road  making, 
and  are  often  difficult  questions  to  determine.  It  would  seem 
to  be  a  common  notion  with  many  who  have  essayed  to 
enlighten  the  public  on  this  subject  that  stones  suitable  for 
road  making  are  obtainable  on  every  farm,  and  that  all  that  is 
necessary  to  do  is  to  encourage  farmers  to  have  them  properly 
prepared  at  their  leisure  and  delivered  on  the  roads.  On  the 
contrary,  though  there  is  an  abundance  of  stones  on  most 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  153 

Pennsylvania  farms,  those  suitable  for  making  a  first-class  arti- 
ficial road  are  quite  uncommon.  Stones  gathered  promiscu 
ously  from  the  surface  of  the  fields,  though  they  may  do  very 
well  to  patch  up  a  bad  place  in  a  mud  road,  are  mostly  very 
unfit  to  use  even  on  the  poorest  kind  of  a  turnpike.  Even  if 
generally  of  good  quality,  they  are  sure  to  be  mixed  with  soft 
and  worthless  ones,  which  spoil  the  whole.  Even  where  there 
are  quarries  of  hard  stone  they  are,  for  the  most  part,  of  strati- 
fied formation,  with  layers  of  different  degrees  of  hardness, 
and,  even  if  generally  good,  are  devoid  of  that  uniformity 
which  is  so  essential  to  make  a  good  road.  And,  besides,  a 
quarry  of  road  stones,  to  be  worked  to  advantage,  must  be 
extensive  enough  to  warrant  the  erection  of  a  breaker,  and 
must  be  situated  very  near  to  a  railroad,  so  as  to  have  a  track 
so  convenient  that  cars  may  be  loaded  direct  from  the  crusher. 
Breaking  stone  by  hand  will  soon  be  a  lost  art  in  this  country. 
Stones  for  surfacing  a  road  should  not  only  be  of  uniform  hard- 
ness, but  must  possess  the  greatest  possible  degree  of  tough- 
ness. Perhaps  the  best  measure  of  the  quality  of  stone  for 
this  purpose  is  its  power  of  resistance  to  crushing  force, 
though  it  appears,  from  experiments  that  have  been  made, 
that  the  qualities  of  hardness  and  toughness  are  not  always  the 
measure  of  the  resistance  to  abrasion  or  the  wearing  away  by 
the  contact  of  horses'  feet  and  the  wheels  of  vehicles.  In  the 
selection  of  the  materials  to  be  used  the£e  are  the  qualities  to 
be  desired.  Those  possessing  these  qualities  in  the  highest 
degree  that  I  have  had  experience  with  are  the  trap  rock  from 
the  Orange  and  Bergen  hills  in  Northern  New  Jersey.  These 
quarries  are  now  being  rapidly  developed,  and  so  great  is  the 
competition  in  the  business  of  crushing  this  rock  for  road 
purposes  that  it  is  likely  soon  to  become  the  cheapest  as  well 
as  the  best  material  now  obtainable  in  this  neighborhood — the 
vicinity  of  Philadelphia. 

Granite,  though  excellent  for  paving  blocks,  and  very  much 
used  for  road  making,  is  very  variable  in  quality,  and  is  mostly, 


154  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

I  think,  far  inferior  to  Bergen  Hill  trap  rock  for  macadamizing. 
Where  this  may  be  considered  too  expensive,  a  good  substitute 
is  found  in  furnace  slag. 

Having,  during  the  last  eight  years,  had  charge  of  a  road 
on  which  many  thousands  of  tons  of  this  material  were  used, 
I  have  had  good  opportunities  of  judging  of  its  value,  and  of 
comparing  it  with  the  various  stones  in  use.  The  first  thing  to 
note  about  slag  is  that  its  quality  varies  almost  as  much  as 
stone,  the  slag  from  some  furnaces  being  next  to  trap  rock  in 
value  and  worth  double  that  from  others.  I  refrain  from 
naming  these  because  I  suppose  it  was  not  intended  that  these 
papers  should  be  the  medium  of  advertising  anybody's  business. 
It  is  a  common  belief,  however,  that  where  slag  is  cookd  when 
it  comes  from  the  furnace  by  throwing  water  on  it,  it  makes 
it  brittle  and  destroys  its  value  for  road  making.  Where  slag 
pf  a  good  quality  can  be  readily  obtained,  its  cost  is  so  much 
less  than  that  of  the  best  quality  of  stone  that  I  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  recommend  its  use,  having  used  much  of  it  with  good 
results.  I  could  name,  as  an  instance,  the  main  street  in  a 
town  where  the  traffic  is  great  and  much  of  it  with  heavily- 
loaded  vehicles,  was  coated  with  slag,  which,  though  too  coarsely 
broken  to  make  a  perfect  road,  made  a  good  road,  on  which,  for 
five  years,  there  was  no  perceptible  wear  whatever.  It  was 
then  resurfaced  with  finely-broken  trap  rock,  only  to  make  a 
more  smooth  and  pleasant  road  for  driving  on.  In  the  borough 
of  Norristown  they  have  used  slag  for  many  years  on  the  streets 
in  preference  to  any  other  material,  and  with  good  satisfaction. 

Limestone,  such  as  is  common  in  this  vicinity,  though  it 
makes  a  nice  smooth  road  for  light  driving,  has  no  enduring 
qualities  for  heavy  traffic,  and  I  have  not  found  it  as  lasting  as 
the  poorest  slag.  There  are,  however,  harder  limestones  of  the 
older  formation  that  are  excellent,  and  it  is  claimed  for  them 
that  they  are  superior  to  any  trap  rock.  There  are  some  very 
extensive  quarries  and  machinery  for  producing  road  material 
of  this  stone  on  the  Hudson.  I  have  had  no  experience  with 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  155 

it,  but,  from  samples  I  have  seen,  I  have  no  doubt  of  its 
value. 

A  gentleman  in  the  road-making  business  who  has  a  very 
extensive  plant  on  the  Hudson,  and  who  claims  to  turn  out 
one  thousand  tons  per  day  of  crushed  stone,  says  of  his  stone : 
"  It  may  be  said,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  one  hundred 
square  yards  of  this  stone  answers  the  purpose  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  yards  of  any  other  stone,  not  excepting  trap  rock. 
True,  trap  rock  has  hardness,  but  the  grinding  of  constant 
travel  disintegrates  it,  and  then  it  returns  to  its  elementary 
principles — mud.  Trap  rock  is  virtually  petrified  earth,  and, 
after  dissolution,  becomes  soluble  matter.  The  Helderburgh 
limestone  takes  equally  as  long,  if  not  longer,  to  disintegrate, 
and  when  it  does  it  settles  into  a  cement  as  firm  as  any  metal 
can  be." 

We  all,  of  course,  know  that  every  one  considers  his  own 
the  best,  but  I  give  this  gentleman  the  benefit  of  this  state- 
ment, because,  if  true,  it  is  very  important,  and  is  certainly 
well  worth  looking  into. 

It  may  be  well  to  give  a  little  idea  of  the  cost  of  these 
materials.  Most  of  the  iron  furnaces  now  have  machinery  for 
crushing  slag  for  roads,  and  the  price  delivered  on  cars  varies 
from  about  fifty  to  seventy  cents  per  ton  in  large  lots.  Trap 
rock  costs  all  the  way  from  one  dollar  to  one  dollar  seventy-five 
cents  per  ton  on  the  cars.  To  these  prices,  of  course,  must  be 
added  the  freight,  which,  on  slag  from  the  furnaces  along  the 
Schuylkill  Valley  to  Philadelphia  and  vicinity,  is  about  one-half 
that  of  trap  rock  from  the  Bergen  Hills,  making  the  whole  cost 
of  this  just  about  double  that  of  slag.  But  as  the  cost  of  each 
in  carting  and  placing  on  the  road  is  the  same,  there  will  not 
be  so  much  difference  in  relative  cost  of  the  finished  road.  A 
mile  of  road  already  graded,  that  could  be  built  of  trap  rock 
for  ten  thousand  dollars,  would  cost  from  six  to  seven  thousand 
built  of  slag. 

In  this  connection  it  occurs  to  me  that  there  ought  to  be 


156  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

within  the  reach  of  those  interested  in  such  matters,  some 
means  of  testing  the  resisting  power  of  different  road  mate- 
rials. I  imagine  that  a  simple  and  inexpensive  machine  might 
be  contrived  that  would  test,  with  sufficient  accuracy,  the  resist- 
ing power,  or  the  amount  of  pressure  per  square  inch,  a  sub- 
stance would  bear. 

Just  here  I  desire  to  say  a  few  words  upon  the  intimate 
relations  that  exist  between  the  railroads  and  road  making. 
So  far  as  artificial  roads  are  concerned,  almost  everything 
depends  upon  the  facilities  afforded  by  the  railroads  in  hauling 
the  required  material  at  a  moderate  cost.  Without  this  can  be 
done,  the  making  of  first-class  roads  would,  in  general,  be  out 
of  the  question.  And  I  believe  there  are  many  liberal-minded 
railroad  officials  who  are  far-sighted  enough  to  see  that  the 
prosperity  of  their  business  is  largely  identified  with  the  pros- 
perity of  the  country  contiguous  to  the  line  of  their  roads,  and 
who  know  that  there  is  nothing  that  can  add  to  this  prosperity 
more  than  the  improvement  of  the  roads,  and  who  know  that 
the  common  roads  are  the  natural  feeders  of  the  railroads,  and 
who*  are  disposed  to  aid  all  they  can  in  their  improvement. 
But  T  am  sorry  to  say  that  this  disposition  is  not  as  prevalent 
as  I  think  it  should  be.  As  an  instance  in  proof  of  this,  which 
occurred  quite  lately,  I  was  informed  by  a  gentleman  in  the 
business  of  furnishing  road  material  that  a  prominent  official 
of  a  great  railroad  refused  to  deliver  material  for  him  at  a  point 
on  their  road  where  it  would  have  been  a  great  convenience  to 
have  had  it,  and  gave  as  a  reason  that  they  did  not  wish  to 
accommodate  the  turnpike  company  that  wanted  the  material, 
as  their  road  was  too  good  already,  and  was  competing  with  the 
railroad  to  the  injury  of  their  business.  If  such  a  contempt- 
ible, short-sighted  policy  as  this  was  to  obtain  in  railroad  man- 
agement, it  must  put  a  stop  to  all  road  improvement,  as  good 
material  cannot  now  be  obtained  in  most  localities  except  by 
rail. 

I   have   mentioned   the  great   quarries  of   Northern  New 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  157 

Jersey  and  on  the  Hudson,  because  these  are  now  being1  so 
extensively  operated,  and  not  because  there  is  not  an  abund- 
ance of  as  good  material  in  our  own  State  and  within  easy  reach 
of  this  vicinity ;  but  I  know  of  none  in  operation  of  much 
extent.  But  I  am  satisfied  there  are  great  bodies  of  the  best 
quality  of  hard  stone  on  the  lines  of  some  of  our  railroads  that 
might  be  and  would  be  utilized  for  road  making  here  if  the 
railroads  would  encourage  the  enterprise,  as  I  think  it  would 
be  their  interest  to  do. 

There  is  a  point  connected  with  the  making  of  all  kinds  of 
artificially-covered  roads  that  cannot  be  too  much  insisted  on ; 
that  is,  that  no  surfacing  should  be  done  until  the  road  is  well 
graded.  For  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  while  a  road  is 
left  to  its  natural  state  there  is  a  constant  tendency  to  improve 
the  grades  of  itself,  the  hills  being  washed  down  and  the  valleys 
filled  up  with  every  rain  ;  but  when  once  the  covering  is  placed 
the  grades  are  fixed  for  all  time,  and  can  never  be  improved 
except  it  be  at  very  great  expense.  No  road  should  ever  be 
graded  to  a  perfect  level,  on  account  of  drainage — this  is  not 
desirable — but  the  hills  should  be  reduced  to  within  two  degrees, 
or  about  one  in  thirty*  at  least,  where  that  is  possible.  A  great 
advantage  resulting  from  this  is  that  in  cutting  away  the  hills 
and  filling  up  the  valleys,  places  that  are  liable  to  quagmires 
and  quicksands  are  elevated  so  as  to  free  the  road  from  this 
danger. 

As  so  much  is  now  said — and  very  properly,  too — about  the 
inferiority  of  the  roads  in  this  country  compared  with  those  of 
Europe,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  say  a  little  on  this  subject. 
When  we  come  to  look  fully  into  the  causes  which  have  pro- 
duced this  disparity,  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  cause  of  dis- 
couragement ;  for  besides  the  advantages  there  of  cheap  pauper 
labor,  it  must  be  remembered  that  centuries  of  civilization  have 
given  those  countries  time  to  accomplish  very  much  that  there 
has  not  yet  been  time  for  here.  And  there  are  other  things  to 
be  taken  into  the  account.  Before  railroads  and  steam  navi- 


158  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

gation  were  invented  all  the  mails  had  to  be  carried  by  stage 
coach  over  the  common  roads,  and  where  there  were  no  water 
communications  all  merchandise  traffic  was  by  common  roads ; 
so  that  for  centuries  road  making  had  been  a  most  important 
department  of  governmental  care  in  those  countries.  For 
example,  as  early  as  1816  there  were  in  England  and  Wales 
alone  twenty-five  thousand  miles  of  turnpike  roads,  and  this 
was  just  at  the  commencement  of  scientific  road  making.  By 
that  time  the  work  of  carrying  the  mails  alone  had  become 
immense,  and  this  required  the  constant  oversight  of  the  gov- 
ernment. And  a  great  deal  of  the  time  of  Parliament  had  to 
be  devoted  to  the  'department  of  roads  and  the  transportation 
of  the  mails.  And  so  it  happened  that  before  railroads  were 
invented  all  England  had  become  a  network  of  good  artificial 
roads,  and  the  whole  nation  had  learned  what  good  roads  were, 
and  had  become  accustomed  to  them  to  such  a  degree  that  they 
had  come  to  consider  them  a  necessity  that  could  not  be  dis- 
pensed with. 

This  country,  on  the  other  hand,  had  scarcely  emerged 
from  a  wilderness  state  when  steam  navigation  and  transporta- 
tion by  rail  sprang  into  existence,  and  soon  claimed  the  bulk 
of  all  the  traffic  in  the  conveyance  of  persons  and  of  merchan- 
dise of  every  description.  The  great  revolution  in  the  business 
of  transportation  thus  created  put  a  check  for  the  time  to  the 
progress  of  road  making,  then  only  just  in  its  infancy  in  this 
country,  and  from  which  it  is  now  again  just  emerging. 

Had  steam  navigation  and  railroading  been  deferred  for 
another  half,  or  even  a  quarter  of  a  century,  we  would  have 
been  vastly  further  advanced  in  the  science  of  road  making. 
But  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  in  a  country  so  vast,  where 
the  temptation  is  so  great  for  the  population  to  spread  over  an 
immense  extent  of  territory,  that  it  would  be  possible  to  make 
roads  through  it  all,  such  as  would  be  looked  for  in  densely- 
populated  countries,  where  they  have  had  centuries  to  do  this 
work.  So  that  we  need  not  be  discouraged.  We  are  now,  at 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  159 

least,  making  a  good  beginning,  and  when  once  the  example  is 
set,  and  our  people  learn  what  a  really  good  road  is,  it  will  not 
be  long  before  they  will  not  be  satisfied  without  them,  and  law- 
makers and  supervisors  and  all  concerned  will  have  to  give 
heed. 

We  have  in  this  part  of  the  United  States,  at  least,  the 
material  in  abundance ;  we  have  learned  something  of  what  a 
road  should  be,  and  we  have  those  who  possess  the  skill  and 
ability  to  do  the  work,  and  there  is  no  longer  an  excuse  for  the 
lack  of  means,  which  should  be  forthcoming.  For  every  other 
form  of  enterprise  and  public  improvement  capital  is  put  forth 
in  abundance,  and  it  is  universally  admitted  that  there  is  no 
way  in  which  money  can  be  spent  that  would  afford  a  better 
return  than  this  in  its  beneficial  influence  to  every  member, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  of  the  community. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


HONORABLE  MENTION.     PAPER  No.  16. 

BY 

CHARLES  PUNCHARD, 

1223  Hollywood  Avenue,  Philadelphia. 


IN  the  construction  of  highways  it  will  be  found,  on  refer- 
ring to  the  records  of  history,  that  the  first  place  must  be  given 
to  the  Roman  Empire.  Upon  its  subjugation  of  a  country 
almost  the  first  practical  improvements  introduced  were  good 
roads.  These,  when  laid  out,  were  more  for  military  and 
strategic  purposes  than  for  the  immediate  benefits  that  might 
accrue  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts  through  which  they 
ran.  The  main  principles  governing  their  construction  were  : 

First. — To  run  them  in  as  straight  a  line  as  circumstances 
would  permit,  and  also  sufficiently  wide  to  allow  an  unobstructed 
passage  for  traffic. 

Second. — To  have  as  low  uniform  grade  as  the  country  would 
permit,  which  in  some  cases  would  necessitate  the  levelling  of 
hills  and  filling  up  of  valleys. 

Third. — To  keep  the  water  outlets  clear,  and  the  hedges  or 
fences  on  both  sides  of  the  road  at  a  height  which  would  enable 
both  sun  and  wind  to  act  upon  its  surface. 

After  the  elapse  of  centuries  many  of  the  roads  constructed 
by  the  Romans  are  still  in  existence,  showing  most  conclusively 
that  the  principles  adopted  were  sound  at  the  start,  and  that 
despite  the  vast  improvements  in  the  way  of  -steam  and  machin- 
ery in  modern  times,  we  have  not  advanced  further  in  the  main 
principles  of  the  construction  of  good  roads  than  were  practiced 

(160) 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  161 

by  them.  Probably  the  nearest  approach  to  them  has  been  in  the 
countries  where  the  highways  are  now  operated  under  legisla- 
tive and  municipal  ordinances,  as  in  England,  Germany, 
France,  and  part  of  the  United  States.  The  immense  impetus 
toward  the  improvement  of  the  English  roads  was  given  by  the 
introduction  of  the  so-called  Highway  Act,  passed  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  the  year  1862.  This  act  completely  took 
away  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  roads  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  parish  officers  known  by  the  high-sounding  title  of 
"Parish  Surveyors,"  who,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  were  men  who 
could  hardly  have  answered  any  simple  question  upon  what 
constituted  a  good  road. 

This  act,  which  completely  altered  the  old  system  of  parish 
supervision,  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a  "Highway 
Board,"  the  members  of  which  were  made  up  of  one  or  more 
persons  from  each  parish,  according  to  the  size  or  number  of 
miles  of  roads.  The  highway  boards  were  called  upon  to  appoint 
professional  surveyors  for  the  districts  over  which  they  had 
jurisdiction.  They  were  required  to  hold  meetings  at  least 
once  a  quarter,  to  receive  reports  and  other  details  from  the 
surveyors,  for  paying  accounts,  receiving  estimates,  and  award- 
ing contracts.  Annually  they  were  to  publish  in  the  local  press 
a  full  report  of  the  state  of  the  highways  under  their  charge, 
together  with  the  expenditure  incurred  during  the  year. 

The  practical  working  of  the  act  soon  showed  better  roads 
at  less  expenditure,  together  with  a  more  equitable  system  of 
assessment  for  the  maintenance  of  the  same.  The  Highway 
Act,  from  its  improved  system  of  equitable  assessment,  was  the 
means  of  attracting  the  attention  of  the  several  Poor  Law 
Union  Boards,  and  resulted  in  the  introduction,  within  a  few 
years,  of  the  Union  Chargability  Bill,  by  which  the  parishes  of 
the  said  unions  were  amalgamated  and  placed  under  a  similar 
system. 

It  may  not  have  passed  unnoticed,  that  of  late  several  par- 
agraphs have  appeared  in  the  Pennsylvania  press  from  the  pens 

ii 


162  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

of  tourists  as  to  the  excellent  roads  of  the  "old  country." 
With  such  facts  as  cited  above,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
consider  whether  such  a  precedent  could  not  be  followed  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania.  As  it  comes  directly  within  the  spirit 
of  the  papers  desired  by  the  donors  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania Road  Prizes,  it  will  be  again  referred  to,  after  the  mat- 
ters relative  to  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  roads  are 
fully  considered,  and  the  following  subjects  have  been  fully  dis- 
cussed :  What  constitutes  a  "good  road?"  Engineering  Features  ; 
Economic  Features  ;  Legislative  Features  ;  Summary. 

WHAT    CONSTITUTES    A    GOOD    ROAD  ? 

In  the  construction  of  a  good  road,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
take  into  consideration  the  following  :  Climatic  influence ;  Geo- 
logical formation  :  Material;  Drainage  ;  Traffic  ;  Location  ;  Elas- 
ticity ;  Cost  and  Maintenance. 

CLIMATIC  INFLUENCE. — It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  many 
roads  which  have  been  laid  with  really  sound  materials  and 
apparently  fairly  constructed,  have  signally  failed  in  their  pur- 
poses, owing  to  the  negligence  of  their  constructors  in  not  taking 
into  consideration  the  climatic  influences  of  the  district  in 
which  such  roads  are  laid.  Severe  storms,  intense  frosts,  low, 
humid  atmosphere,  sudden,  hot  drouths  with  occasional  heavy 
wash-outs,  entail  severe  strain  upon  the  best  constructed  roads, 
by  removing  the  lighter  surface  material  and  converting  it  into 
mud,  breaking  up  or  disintegrating  the  cohesiveness  of  the 
heavier  material,  and  so  displacing  the  sectional  divisions  of  the 
road  strata.  For  want  of  immediate  attention  to  its  repair,  a 
road  is  left  in  a  weak  condition;  consequently  its  usefulness  is 
gone,  necessitating  a  heavy  expenditure  to  restore  it  to  its  orig- 
inal state. 

The  often  serious  results  of  these  climatic  influences  can 
be  materially  lessened  and  their  damaging  propensities  modified. 
Against  severe  storms  and  wash-outs  there  should  be  provided 
properly  constructed  water  outlets,  clear,  open  drains  or  gutters 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  163 

and  a  well-made  grade  falling  from  the  crown  of  the  road.  These 
protections  will  reduce  the  force  of  the  surface  washings. 
Severe  frosts  are  also  often  injurious  in  their  effects  upon  roads, 
especially  in  the  Spring  season.  Care,  therefore,  is  necessary  to 
see  at  once  to  the  water  outlets,  relevelling  places  upheaved, 
ruts  in  roads  which  are  subject  to  frequent  traffic  on  them  of 
heavy  vehicles,  raked  back,  and  the  keeping  of  the  surface  to 
the  original  grade.  From  an  economical  point  of  view,  a  few 
dollars  spent  at  the  right  time  may  save  hundreds  of  dollars  at 
some  future  period  in  restoring  the  road  to  its  proper  condition. 
The  full  action  of  the  sun  and  wind  upon  the  road  surface  is 
another  important  factor,  it  being  one  of  the  means  of  keeping 
it  dry  and  hard.  Trees  should  also  be  kept  well  trimmed,  fences 
maintained  at  a  low  height,  and  thus  encourage  these  beneficial 
helpers. 

GEOLOGICAL  FORMATION. — Geological  formation  is  an 
important  factor,  and  roads  should  not  be  constructed  until  a 
well-drained  and  solid  foundation  has  been  secured.  Many 
roads  have  been  made  without  much  thought  or  care  having  been 
bestowed  upon  the  strata  and  beds  upon  which  their  foundation 
materials  were  laid,  and  which  is  shown  by  the  surface  of  such 
roads  losing  entirely  all  uniform  appearance,  and  causing  con- 
stant outlay  for  their  maintenance. 

Outside  of  certain  districts  and  of  rocky  places,  the  strata 
upon  which  roads  are  constructed  in  the  majority  of  cases  will 
come  under  the  following  classes  of  soils  and  sub-soils,  viz.:  Sili- 
cious,  calcareous,  clays  (both  light  and  heavy),  marls  and  loams 
(including  swamps  and  morasses}. 

Silicious  soils  of  a  silex  or  flinty  nature,  and  calcareous  soils 
having  properties  of  lime,  present  no  great  difficulty  in  securing 
a  firm,  dry  and  solid  foundation  for  the  construction  of  roads. 
On  soils  of  a  clayey  nature,  either  light  or  heavy,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  secure  perfect  dryness  of  such  beds,  which  can 
only  be  obtained  by  a  perfect  system  of  drainage,  both  at  bottom 
and  surface.  Marls  and  Loams:  Soils  that  vary  considerably 


164  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

in  their  natural  properties,  classed  as  rich  and  poor  earths,  in 
many  places  are  intermixed  with  a  large  proportion  of  flint  and 
other  hard  materials,  the  component  parts  of  which  are  gener- 
ally small.  Other  marls  are  softer  and  hold  moisture  tena- 
ciously, requiring  a  thorough  system  of  drainage  to  enable  the 
roadbeds  to  be  properly  made.  Swamps  and  Morasses,  being  of 
a  .soft  and  spongy  nature,  better  known  as  low,  wet  grounds, 
under  the  name  of  marshes,  fens  and  bogs,  present  the  greatest 
difficulties  in  highway  construction,  and  in  several  places  have 
entailed  heavy  charges  for  their  proper  maintenance.  Such 
localities  demand  perfect  drainage. 

MATERIALS.— In  the  construction  of  a  good  road,  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  have  materials  in  each  of  the  sectional 
divisions  of  good,  sound  and  durable  quality.  The  sectional  divi- 
sions are  now  commonly  placed  under  three  heads,  viz.:  Upper, 
middle,  lower  vertical  sections,  being  the  combined  principles  of 
the  standard  authorities,  such  as  McAdam,  Telford  and  Law. 
It  is  necessary  that  each  separate  section  of  its  construction 
should  be  laid  in  the  gradient  form  of  the  proposed  formation  of 
the  road,  from  the  fact  that  the  traffic  is  more  upon  the  centre 
than  on  either  of  its  sides,  and  helps  to  keep  the  cohesiveness 
and  component  parts  in  more  compact  form  and  elastic  state, 
preventing  displacement  of  its  materials.  The  materials  of 
which  the  several  sections  are  formed  may  be  described  as 
follows  : 

LOWER  SECTION. — Solid  broken  rock,  rough  cobbles,  iron 
slag,  slate  refuse,  shale  and  similar  heavy  substances  from  the 
various  quarries.  As  such  materials  can  be  obtained  in  almost 
any  district  in  which  roads  are  required  to  be,  made,  in  more  or 
less  quantity,  constructors  should  be  guided,  of  course,  in  the 
selection  of  the  material  by  the  facility  witn  which  it  can  be 
procured. 

MIDDLE  SECTION. — Materials  of  a  porous  and  yet  durable 
nature.  These  qualities  are  found  in  burnt  clays,  stones  taken 
from  silicious  or  calcareous  soils,  broken  rocks,  or  similar  hard 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  165 

and  durable  substances,  which  should  be  broken  to  a  size  that 
would  pass  through  a  two  and  one-half  inch  screen  or  ring,  and 
of  either  cubic  or  angular  shape.  Here,  again,  constructors  should 
be  entirely  guided  by  localities. 

UPPER  SECTION — Lighter  and  smaller  materials  of  a 
strong,  dry  and  durable  nature,  not  easily  disintegrated,  which 
will  retain  their  solidity  after  severe  tests  of  sun  and  frosts,  or 
sudden  change  to  either  high  or  low  temperature.  These 
qualities  are  found  in  small  broken  rocks,  crushed  stones,  from 
out  of  silicious  soils,  stones  from  sand  or  gravel  pits  ;  cinders, 
also,  are  at  times  used  where  the  traffic  is  light,  and  in  such 
cases  are  useful,  but  on  roads  over  which  a  large  amount  of 
heavy  traffic  is  constantly  passing,  are  not  recommended.  The 
size  of  the  material  should  not  be  larger  than  would  pass 
through  a  one-inch  screen.  The  immediate  surface  of  this  sec- 
tion should  have  smaller  material,  such  as  gravel  or  heavy  sand, 
that  would  pass  through  a  one-half  inch  screen. 

It  may  be  well  to  define  what  is  meant  by  the  term  "  burnt 
clay,"  as  its  introduction  for  use  in  road  construction  is  of  com- 
paratively recent  origin,  and,  as  yet,  has  not  been  extensively 
used,  but  may,  ultimately,  come  into  general  use.  The  use  of 
burnt  clays,  or  ballast,  is  limited  to  districts  that  are  known  to 
have  subsoils  of  white  or  blue  clay,  and,  as  a  matter  of  econ- 
omy, in  the  construction  of  roads  through  such,  it  is  found  to  be 
as  cheap  and  as  desirable  material  as  can  be  obtained.  The 
modus  operandi  is  as  follows  : 

Take  a  road  that  has  to  be  constructed  through  a  heavy 
clay  district ;  one  of  a  medium  width — say  a  local  road  twenty 
feet  wide.  In  Summer  weather,  or  during  the  hot  season,  the 
soil  in  the  proposed  road  should  be  cut  out  to  a  depth  of  two 
feet  into  large  spits  and  laid  roughly  one  upon  the  other  and 
left  in  that  condition  for  about  ten  days.  By  that  time  the  sun's 
rays  will  have  evaporated  the  moisture  held  by  soils  of  this  nature. 
So  soon  as  the  spits  are  dry,  they  are  submitted  to  the  action  of 
fire  in  the  following  manner :  A  circle  is  formed  fifteen  feet  in 


i66  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

diameter,  surrounded  by  a  wall  made  of  the  roughest  and  largest 
spits,  two  feet  high  ;  in  the  enclosure  thus  formed,  straw  or 
other  light  combustible  material  is  laid  ;  faggots  or  small  pieces 
of  wood  are  placed  on  these,  and  over  them  are  placed  other 
spits,  so  as  to  form  a  cone  or  pyramid,  the  whole  structure  to  be 
about  eight  feet  high.  Fire  is  then  applied  to  several  parts  at 
once,  due  care  being  taken  to  see  that  the  spits  sink  evenly 
until  the  whole  mass  is  well  alight.  After  being  well  banked, 
the  mass  is  left  for  a  day  or  two,  and  as  soon  as  it  attains  a  good 
red  appearance,  is  drawn  down,  the  wall  broken,  the  spits  are 
thrown  on  top,  and  others  added  as  required,  from  day  to  day, 
until  all  the  earth  dug  has  been  submitted  to  the  same  process. 
In  a  length  of  100  yards  of  road  thus  served,  it  would  take  about 
six  fires  to  burn  the  12,000  cubic  feet  contained  therein;  the 
cost  of  labor  would  probably  be  twenty  or  twenty-five  cents  per 
cubic  yard.  The  burnt  earth  is  then,  after  cooling,  relaid  upon 
the  road  and  forms  the  middle  section,  and  now,  being  of  a 
thoroughly  porous  nature,  settles  into  a  good,  dry,  solid  layer, 
and  will  last  for  years. 

DRAINAGE. 

Drainage  is  one  of  the  principal  features  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  good  road,  often  sadly  neglected,  and,  in  many  cases, 
beyond  a  few  outlets  made  adjoining  the  surface  edges,  no  other 
facilities  are  provided  to  carry  .off  excess  of  water.  It  is  appar- 
ently forgotten  that  the  natural  cohesiveness  of  materials  will 
allow  them  to  contain  moisture  equal  only  to  their  capacities,  and 
that  any  excess  of  the  natural  absorption  must  be  injurious  and 
ultimately  ruinous  to  their  durability.  A  properly  drained  road 
consists  of  one  that  has  all  surplus  water,  whether  upon  the 
surface  or  in  the  body  of  it,  beyond  the  natural  capacity  drawn 
off,  and  this  is  secured  by  adopting  such  of  the  various  means 
of  drainage  as  are  suited  to  the  locality. 

The  several  methods  of  draining  a  road  are  as  follows :  Clear 
surface  outlets  in  the  shape  of  a  gutter  or  open  stone  drain  on 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  167 

both  sides  of  the  road ;  a  proper  grade  from  the  centre  to  the 
sides,  and  in  wet  or  stiff  land  districts  it  is  necessary  to  have 
underdrainage  in  the  shape  of  a  pipe  or  stone  drain  on  one  or 
both  sides.  These  should  be  sunk  to  a  depth  of  one  foot  below  the 
roadbed,  laid  with  earthen  pipes  two  inches  in  diameter  and  twelve 
inches  above  the  pipe  filed  with  rough  stone.  Or  drains  may 
be  laid  to  run  transversely  or  diagonally  to  the  road  section  every 
fifty  or  sixty  feet.  One  great  desideratum  must  not  be  neg- 
lected— an  outfall  must  be  obtained  to  allow  the  water  from  the 
drains  to  have  unobstructed  egress.  The  size  of  the  pipes 
(terra-cotta  preferred)  may  vary  from  two  to  three  inches  in  di- 
ameter in  light  land  districts.  Where  the  land  is  heavier,  pipes  of 
four  inches  diameter  may  be  required,  and  in  the  case  of  a  drain 
built  directly  under  a  road,  carrying  water  from  adjoining  lands, 
and  where,  for  obvious  reasons,  a  wooden  or,  even,  brick  cul- 
vert would  be  objectionable,  iron  pipes  of  a  suitable  size  should 
be  used.  Great  care  must  be  exercised  in  the  case  of  roads  in 
swampy  or  low  wet  lands.  In  such  instances  it  becomes  imper- 
atively necessary,  in  order  to  effect  proper  drainage,  that  the 
land  should  be  drained  on  either  side  of  the  road  for  a  consid- 
erable distance. 

TRAFFIC. 

Roads  and  streets  inside  of  cities  and  boroughs  are  regu- 
lated by  city  and  municipal  ordinances.  Highways  are  gener- 
ally divided  into  two  classes,  viz.:  Main  roads  or  pikes  and  cross 
roads,  known  as  common  roads.*  The  traffic,  as  a  rule,  is  very 
heavy  upon  the  main  roads,  and  such  are  subjected  to  severe 
strains.  For  example,  a  carriage,  the  wheels  of  which  have 
narrow  tires,  and  loaded  heavily,  will  cut  and  grind  deeply  into 
the  surface  or  upper  section  of  the  road,  often  displacing  the 
material,  and  other  vehicles  almost  invariably  follow  the  same 
track,  thereby  forming  ruts  which,  after  a  storm,  form 
impromptu  gutters,  and  if  left  alone  for  a  few  days  before  being 
repaired,  cause  great  injury  to  it. 

\) 


58        ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

The  wear  and  tear  of  traffic  upon  roads  leading  into  towns, 
etc.,  is  at  times  heavy  and  well  calculated  to  test  the  strength 
of  the  best  constructed  highways,  hence,  for  careful  mainte- 
nance, require  constant  looking  after,  and  material  should  be 
kept  at  places  easily  accessible  to  the  sections  of  the  roads  that 
are  subjected  to  such  usage.  The  bad  effect  of  heavy  traffic 
upon  roads  not  properly  drained  soon  becomes  apparent  and 
should  have  immediate  attention  to  prevent  heavy  expenditure 
for  reconstruction.  It  is  also  of  considerable  importance  to 
keep  the  surface  of  the  road  smooth,  which  can  be  economically 
done  by  occasionally  repicking,  that  is,  loosening  the  surface  by 
means  of  a  mattock  or  pick,  and  raking  to  its  uniform  grade. 
This  will  tend  to  keep  the  traffic  distributed  evenly  over  the 
entire  surface,  and  which  is  what  a  good  constructed  road,  and 
one  kept  under  proper  maintenance,  should  have,  viz.:  a  uniform 
wear  and  tear  upon  each  and  every  square  foot  of  its  surface, 
which  prevents  displacement  and  assists  in  keeping  it  in  a 
proper,  elastic  condition. 

LOCATION. 

The  location  of  roads  has  arisen  from  accidental  causes,  more 
especially  from  the  necessities  of  earlier  settlers  than  from  any 
well-defined  plan,  except  where  the  lines  of  the  old  Government 
surveyors  have  been  adhered  to.  Roads  in  new  localities  have 
been  necessitated  principally  owing  to  the  juxtaposition  of  rail- 
roads and  the  springing  up  of  new  towns  in  consequence,  and  it 
will  probably  be  due  to  such  like  causes  that  will  determine  the 
location  of  other  roads.  It  appears  unnecessary  to  deal  with  the 
question  of  future  location  of  roads,  which  may  be  called  for  by 
the  growth  of  towns  and  the  extension  of  the  railroad  system  of 
the  country,  our  present  purpose  being  to  deal  with  the  high- 
ways now  in  existence. 

ELASTICITY. 

Another  great  feature  in  a  properly  constructed  road  is  its 
elasticity.  Uniform  traffic  upon  the  surface  tends  to  distribute 
the  wear  and  tear  of  its  component  parts,  so  that  they  offer  equal 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  169 

resistance,  and  enable  the  road  to  keep  its  solidity,  cohesiveness 
and  elasticity.  Roads  retaining  these  properties  cause  less  fric- 
tion and  shaking  to  both  vehicles  and  pedestrians.  Such  quali- 
ties are  only  to  be  obtained  by  exercising  proper  precaution  in 
construction,  compactness  and  cohesiveness  being  thus  assured. 
This  may  be  illustrated  by  noting  the  different  effects  in  driving 
or  walking  upon  asphalt  roads  compared  with  those  constructed 
of  hard  stone  and  like  materials. 

COST   AND    MAINTENANCE. 

The  cost  of  constructing  a  good  road  depends  greatly  upon 
its  location  and  convenience  to  materials,  the  latter  being  a  very 
heavy  item  of  expense.  Geological  formation  and  drainage  are 
also  to  be  taken  into  consideration  as  important  features.  It  is 
difficult  to  give  approximate  estimates  without  plans  and  specifi- 
cations. As  a  general  rule  the  cost  will  average  from  $4,000  to 
$5,000  per  mile,  this  varying  with  the  proposed  width  of  high- 
ways ;  on  main  roads  the  width  should  not  be  less  than  thirty 
feet,  and  where  they  lead  into  towns  it  may  be  necessary  to 
extend  the  width  to  fifty  feet.  The  vertical  sectional  division's 
of  roads  upon  those  of  the  main  roads  should  not  be  less  than 
fifteen  to  twenty  inches  in  depth,  those  on  crossroads  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  inches.  These  sectional  divisions  would  in- 
crease upon  nearing  places  where  traffic  is  heavy. 

The  present  system  of  maintenance,  as  practiced  in  many 
townships,  by  which  the  supervision  is  entrusted  to  a  road 
supervisor,  elected  annually,  and  is  not  responsible  beyond  hav- 
ing his  accounts  audited,  is  altogether  unsatisfactory.  His  chief 
interest  is  to  keep  upon  the  best  terms  possible  with  the  con- 
stituency which  elects  him,  rather  than  in  keeping  his  highways 
in  a  first-class  state  of  preservation.  He  is  in  constant  fear  of 
exceeding  the  appropriation  for  his  district,  has  to  contend  with 
the  many  suggestions  of  self-interested  taxpayers  and  the  threat 
of  others  that  unless  he  moderates  expenses  their  vote  will  be 
withheld  for  his  appointment  in  the  ensuing  year — all  these  place 


17°  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

him  in  such  a  position  that,  however  skilful  he  may  be,  he  is  de- 
terred from  fulfilling  any  well-devised  plan  that  may  be  suggested, 
and  the  effects  of  such  supervision  are  invariably  shown  in  the 
inferior  roads  of  that  district.  This  state  of  affairs  is  substan- 
tially the  same  as  existed  in  England  before  the  introduction  of 
the  "  Public  Highway  Act,"  and  calls  for  immediate  reform,  the 
subject  being  discussed  further  under  the  head  of  Legislative 
Features,  and  which  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  Road  Making  and 
Maintenance. 

The  most  important  rule  of  maintenance  is  to  keep  the  road 
to  its  original  surface  formation,  and  to  secure  this  must  receive 
careful  and  constant  supervision,  the  amount  of  this  depending 
on  the  traffic.  Where  that  is  of  a  heavy  character  the  mainte- 
nance is,  of  course,  proportionately  large.  Keeping  ruts  raked 
down,  hollow  places  filled,  surfaces  kept  to  the  original  forma- 
tion, water-courses  kept  clear  and  materials  accessible  for  repairs, 
are  direct  necessities.  Where  traffic  is  light  there  is  only  need 
for  occasional  supervision.  The  cost  of  maintaining  a  properly 
constructed  road  should  not,  for  the  main  roads,  even  when  sub- 
jected to  heavy  wear  and  tear,  exceed  $100,  and  may  not  exceed 
$75  per  mile;  that  of  crossroads  should  be  from  $25  to  $50  per 
mile.  These  figures  apply  only  to  properly  constructed  roads, 
and  include  cost  of  both  labor  and  material. 

The  direct  methods  of  maintenance  come  under  two  heads  : 

First. — Labor  required. 

Second. — Contracts  for  materials. 

The  carrying  out  of  the  work  is  under  the  control  of  the 
supervisor,  but  contracts  may  be  for  both  labor  and  material. 
No  contract  should  be  entered  into  for  a  section  exceeding 
twenty-five  to  fifty  miles.  Practical  experience  has  shown  that, 
under  such  contract  system,  highways  can  be  more  economically 
maintained  than  under  the  present  system. 

The  Bureau  of  Highways  (or  street  commissioners)  of 
large  cities  at  times  labor  under  great  difficulties,  and  are  unable 
to  keep  the  cost  of  maintenance  to  a  minimum,  owing  to  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  171 

constant  tearing  up  of  streets  for  the  purpose  of  laying  gas 
and  water  pipes,  electric  conduits,  enlarging  of  sewers  and  the 
laying  of  street  railway  tracks,  but  the  treatment  of  such  hardly 
comes  within  the  scope  of  this  paper. 

i 

PATHS. 

Pathways  or  sidewalks  usually  adjoin  the  main  roads,  and 
become  a  direct  connecting  part  of  them.  The  introduction  in 
recent  years  of  bicycles  and  tricycles  has  led  to  a  demand  for 
better  supervision  and  maintenance  of  both  roads  and  sidewalks. 
Special  attention  is  necessary  in  the  vicinity  of  towns  and  other 
thickly  populated  centres.  The  usual  method  adopted  hitherto 
has  been  to  make  them  either  of  wood,  flagstones,  brick,  asphalt 
or  other  prepared  ingredients,  besides  the  ordinary  materials 
used  upon  the  roads.  Wood  has  been  freely  used  for  many 
years,  but,  owing  to  the  now  greater  difficulty  in  obtaining  it  at 
a  moderate  price,  other  descriptions  of  material  are  fast  taking 
its  place.  Flagstones  of  various  widths,  generally  about  two  to 
six  inches  in  depth,  are  commonly  used  in  such  parts  where  the 
traffic  is  heavy.  These,  however,  are  gradually  giving  way  to 
such  materials  as  are  of  a  more  elastic  nature,  the  public  prefer- 
ring the  elastic  to  the  heavier  material.  Bricks  are  occasionally 
used.  These,  however  well  laid,  are  affected  by  climatic  influ- 
ences, which  have  a  tendency  to  soon  destroy  their  surfaces, 
and  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  traffic  pulverizes  them,  so 
that  practically  they  are  soon  broken  up.  Asphalt  and  other 
prepared  ingredients,  such  as  concrete,  have  of  late  years  come 
into  more  general  use,  and  as  yet  have  held  their  own,  both  on 
roads  and  paths,  and  bid  fair  to  come  into  very  general  use. 
Paths  are  made  of  the  same  material  as  used  for  the  roads. 
Which  is  the  best  procedure  to  adopt  will  depend  more  upon  the 
localities  and  traffic  than  on  anything  else.  Paths  should  be 
raised  higher  than  the  centre  gradient  of  the  roads  they  adjoin, 
have  a  level  surface,  and  the  edges  of  both  sides  secured  by 
curbing  of  heavy  material. 


i72  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

SUMMARY. 

Having  now  considered  the  details  required  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  good  road  under  the  various  heads  of  the  effect  of 
climatic  influence,  the  importance  of  the  geological  formation 
in  securing  a  solid  foundation,  sound,  durable  materials,  proper 
drainage,  the  effect  of  traffic  on  the  surface,  location,  elas- 
ticity, and  the  important  features  of  cost  and  maintenance,  we 
will  proceed  to  consider  the 

ENGINEERING   FEATURES. 

The  engineering  features  of  construction,  reconstruction 
and  maintenance  of  highways,  with  the  advantages  of  thorough 
scientific  treatment,  are  described  under  Scientific  Highway  En- 
gineering and  Practical  Highway  Engineering. 

Scientific  construction  of  a  road  requires  some  estimate  of 
its  probable  traffic*  to  arrive  at  the  ultimatum  of  "  What  is  the 
greatest  weight  a  road  is  capable  of  resisting  without  displacement 
of  its  sections  or  disturbing  its  angle  of  repose?"  A  properly 
constructed  highway  would  easily  withstand  a  pressure  of  ten 
tons  on  every  square  yard  of  surface.  So  far  this  hardly  applies 
to  common  roads,  but  to  those  of  cities,  from  the  vicinity  of 
which  heavy  castings,  locomotives,  etc.,  are  sent,  necessitating 
special  attention,  and  this  point  is  worthy  of  consideration.  An 
experienced  observer  will  have  noticed  how  frequently  this  appli- 
cation has  been  practically  ignored,  and,  as  a  direct  consequence, 
such  streets  are  constantly  entailing  large  sums  for  maintenance. 
Many  streets,  when  first  constructed,  have  the  appearance  of 
having  been  properly  formed,  but  owing  to  one  great  feature 
ignored,  viz.:  the  want  of  a  solid  concrete  bed  upon  the  founda. 
tion,  to  enable  the  upper  section,  composed  of  heavy  stones,  to 
resist  the  force  of  heavy  traffic  by  proper  support  of  its  own 
weight,  soon  shows  its  weakness,  gets  quickly  out  of  gradient 
and  entails  heavy  charges  for  maintenance.  This  can  be  avoided, 
and  where  streets  are  subjected  to  heavy  traffic  it  is  a  direct 
necessity  that  they  should  have  their  upper  section  upon  con- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  173 

crete  of  not  less  than  fifteen  to  eighteen  inches  in  depth.  When 
properly  performed,  the  only  maintenance  required  is  the  occa- 
sional use  of  sweeping  machines,  the  upper  section  being  such 
that  it  would  last  for  thirty  years  or  more.  It  may  not  be  out 
of  place  to  mention  that  concrete  laid  by  the  Romans  in  some 
parts  of  France  is  still  in  existence,  and  the  only  changes  in 
these  original  roads  have  been  the  renewal  of  the  surface  of  the 
upper  section  from  time  to  time. 

SCIENTIFIC  TREATMENT  of  the  question  of  the  traffic  upon 
common  roads  would  require  statistics  of  the  average  number 
of  vehicles  daily  passing  to  and  fro,  under  the  following  heads  : 
Vehicles  which  weigh  from    8  to  15  cwt. 
"          "  "         "15  to  20     " 

"          "  "         "      20  to  40     " 

with  the  important  consideration  of  the  width  of  the  wheel 
tires.  A  heavy  strain  is  often  thrown  upon  the  road  by  heavily 
weighted  vehicles  whose  width  of  tires  is  not  in  proportion  to 
the  weights  carried,  consequently  a  deep  incision  is  made  in  the 
surface,  and  in  some  cases  the  component  parts  of  the  middle 
section  are  displaced,  resulting  in  heavy  cost  for  repairs. 

SCIENTIFIC  TREATMENT  demands  that  roads  upon  which 
there  is  heavy  traffic  should  have  daily  supervision.  It  would 
also  require  a  change  in  the  method  of  hauling  heavy  timber, 
and  prohibiting  its  being  dragged  directly  upon  the  surface, 
thereby  displacing  its  sectional  parts.  Without  exception,  heavy 
timbers  should  be  hauled  on  suitable  carriages. 

SCIENTIFIC  HIGHWAY  ENGINEERING  (excepting  special 
requirements  beyond  those  already  mentioned)  is  rarely  needed 
upon  the  local  or  common  highways  ;  it  applies  more  directly  to 
cities  and  municipalities  under  the  supervision  of  highway 
bureaus,  who  have  to  deal  with  many  changing  measures  and 
with  large  and  growing  centres,  calling  for  the  application  of  a 
higher  class  of  engineering. 

PRACTICAL  HIGHWAY  ENGINEERING. — In  the  construction 
of  local  highways,  it  is  first  necessary  to  have  carefully  prepared 


1 74  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

plans  of  the  location,  details  of  the  geological  formation  and 
information  as  to  climatic  influence,  quality  of  materials  that 
should  be  used,  approximate  estimates  of  the  traffic,  etc.  A 
practical  highway  engineer  should  be  competent  to  deal  with 
any  of  the  ordinary  bridges,  culverts,  or  side  abutments  called 
for  in  a  local  road,  and  prepare  plans  for  bridges  over  rivers  or 
streams.  When  it  becomes  necessary  to  open  up  communica- 
tion with  roads  over  a  river  of  say  from  100  to  several 
thousand  feet,  it  may  then  become  necessary  to  have  plans  and 
specifications  prepared  by  a  competent  civil  engineer. 

A  practical  highway  engineer  should  possess  the  ability  to 
make  all  ordinary  surveys  and  estimates  of  the  cost  of  materials 
to  be  used ;  also  thoroughly  understand  the  proper  placing  of 
the  sectional  divisions,  and  see  that  proper  drainage  is  effected 
to  secure  a  dry  bed  before  laying  the  road.  He  should  also 
have  a  good  knowledge  of  the  durability  and  other  properties  of 
materials,  and  should  make  himself  well  acquainted  with  the 
geological  formation  of  his  district. 

RECONSTRUCTION. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  that  the  following  directions  apply 
more  particularly  to  the  reconstruction  of  roads  that  are  now  in 
existence,  the  majority  of  which  have  been  laid  without  much 
scientific  or  practical  knowledge  of  what  constitutes  a  good 
road,  rather  than  to  such  as  have  been  properly  constructed. 

First,  it  is  necessary  to  remove  all  dust,  mud  and  soft 
materials  from  off  the  road. 

Second,  to  bring  the  road  to  its  proper  gradient,  this  being 
done  by  either  of  the  methods  known  as  lifting  and  loosening. 

LIFTING  is  adopted  where  the  road  is  found  to  warrant  the 
addition  of  material  without  disturbing  its  lower  section.  The 
present  material  upon  it  is  removed  for  a  depth  of  four  inches, 
all  large  stones  taken  out,  broken  to  size  of  two  and  one-half 
inches,  then  adding  other  material  as  necessary,  resurfacing 
to  its  full  gradient. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  175 

LOOSENING  is  adopted  when  the  road  only  requires  resur- 
facing. It  is  done  by  simply  picking  it  about  an  inch  or  so  in 
depth,  adding  material  as  necessary,  thus  enabling  the  new  and 
old  to  fully  incorporate.  In  reconstruction  it  may  be  necessary 
to  see  that  proper  drainage  is  given.  On  old  or  worn-out  roads 
it  may  be  judicious,  if  the  materials  are  almost  wasted  away,  to 
remove  them  and  proceed  as  in  the  formation  of  a  new  road. 

WASHOUTS  frequently  necessitate  the  reconstruction  of  the 
greater  portion  of  a  road.  It  is  important,  therefore,  to  pro- 
vide, as  far  as  possible,  against  a  recurrence  of  them.  To  take 
up  a  road  and  relay  it  in  some  adjoining  locality  is  merely  a 
question  of  labor  properly  applied.  Such  of  the  materials 
from  the  old  road  as  are  suitable,  and  could  be  reused  in  the 
lower  and  middle  sections,  should  be  thus  dealt  with,  entirely 
new  material  being  provided  for  the  surface. 

SCIENTIFIC  TREATMENT  OF  ROAD  MAINTENANCE  consists 
in  holding  to  one  rule,  that  a  properly-constructed  road  should 
have  its  uniform  gradient  to  keep  it  in  such  condition  as  to 
have  its  surface  and  under  sections  retain  their  uniform  state, 
thus  reducing  its  wear  and  tear  to  a  minimum.  Scientific 
treatment  tells  this,  but  here  it  requires  the  practical  highway 
engineer  to  see  that  such  details  are  carried  out.  One  other 
important  factor  in  maintenance  is  that  the  traffic  upon  it  is  so 
regulated  as  to  subject  the  whole  body  of  the  road  to  an  even 
strain.  A  road  well  macadamized,  such  as  are  seen  on  first-class  • 
turnpikes,  with  a  uniform  fall  of  grade,  is  the  least  difficult  of 
roads  to  keep  in  repair. 

The  practical  highway  engineer  takes  care  to  have  imme- 
diate attention  given  to  the  repair  of  any  broken  places,  all 
ruts  carefully  raked  over,  and  no  hollows  left  in  the  road  to 
form  receptacles  for  water.  He  will  also  see  that  all  materials 
have  had  proper  exposure  to  atmospheric  influences  before 
using.  This  is  a  matter  which  is  often  overlooked.  The 
practical  advantage  is  that  all  materials  being  subject  to  abra- 
sion in  moving,  exposure  to  the  air  removes  the  soft  encrust- 


176  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

ments,  so  that  only  hardened  materials  are  used.  A  roaa, 
when  regularly  looked  after,  will  require  less  raking  and  expen- 
diture of  time  and  money  than  one  which  receives  spasmodic 
attention.  In  the  first  case  the  mud  and  softened  materials 
are  at  once  removed,  in  the  latter  they  are  left  to  accumulate. 
Another  important  feature  of  maintenance  is  the  proper  use 
of  the  material  raked  from  the  surface.  In  many  cases  the 
accumulation  is  put  into  heaps,  left  to  dry,  and,  after  a  time,  is 
used  to  fill  hollow  places.  The  practical  highway  engineer  acts 
differently  ;  his  course  is  to  pass  the  surface  rakings,  when  dry, 
through  a  one-quarter-inch  screen  and  use  only  the  heavier 
parts.  Of  later  years  the  introduction  of  machinery  specially 
adapted  to  road  construction,  such  as  traction  engines,  auto- 
matic stone  spreaders,  stone  crushers,  steam  rollers,  sweeping 
machines,  construction  wagon  trains — these  being  used  sepa- 
rately or  in  union — has  provided  road  constructors  with  such 
facilities  that  a  new  road  can  now  be  expeditiously  made,  and 
with  far  less  trouble  than  formerly. 

ECONOMIC    FEATURES. 

ECONOMY  is  as  applicable  to  highways  as  to  public  or  pri- 
vate expenditure,  and  the  golden  rule  of  "The  maximum  of 
benefit  at  the  minimum  of  cost "  should  be  the  leading  idea  in 
road  construction.  The  progressiveness  of  the  age  demands 
the  better  education  of  the  people  to  the  necessity  for  a  high 
standard  of  roads  and  the  immense  advantages  of  good  over 
imperfectly  constructed  ones.  The  economic  benefit  of  a  good 
road  can  readily  be  seen  by:  Its  cheaper  maintenance ;  greater 
and  easier  facilities  for  traveling ;  less  cost  for  repairs  to  vehicles  ; 
corresponding  relaxation  of  strain  upon  animals  drawing  same, 
and  consequent  saving  of  time  ;  ease  and  comfort  to  those  driving 
over  them.  It  is  well  known  that  a  horse  will  draw  a  much 
heavier  burden  over  a  good  road  than  over  an  indifferent  one. 
From  the  experience  gained  in  recent  years  the  advantages  just 
stated  are  so  apparent  that  it  should  excite  no  misapprehension 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  177 

of  the  fact  that  the  time  has  arrived  when  the  people  are 
inclined  to  appreciate  them,  and  are  determined  to  have  them, 
on  the  ground  of  economy.  The  most  important  factor  of 
maintenance  is  the  question  of  cost.  The  charges  are  reduced 
by  the  fact  that  a  properly  constructed  road  requires  less  main- 
tenance ;  the  charges  for  materials  are  also  lessened,  and  when, 
from  any  cause,  reconstruction  is  necessary,  the  economy  is 
demonstrated  by  the  reduced  expenditure  required.  Economy 
in  expenditure  will  be  shown  later  on,  under  the  head  of  "  Legis- 
lative Features." 

Increase  in  the  value  of  property  adjoining  first-class  roads 
follows  their  construction,  as  is  proved  by  the  rise  in  price  of 
land  having  the  advantage  of  proximity  to  macadamized  or 
turnpike  roads.  The  necessity  of  presenting  a  tabular  state- 
ment of  the  economy  of  good  roads  may  be  saved  by  quoting 
an  adage  well  known  to  those  versed  in  highway  principles, 
viz.  :  "  It  is  cheaper  and  easier  to  maintain  a  good  road  than  an 
indifferently  constructed  one."  The  economy  of  maintenance 
depends  entirely  upon  the  system  employed.  The  present 
system,  under  which  the  greater  number  of  .township  roads 
are  maintained,  is  not  of  an  economical  nature,  and  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary,  for  the  sake  of  greater  economy,  to  place  their 
control  under  a  more  skilful  and  liberal  management,  and  this 
point  is  also  dealt  with  under  "  Legislative  Features." 

LEGISLATIVE    FEATURES. 

HIGHWAY  LEGISLATION  is  attracting  attention  from  the  fact 
mentioned  in  the  last  annual  message  of  the  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, in  which  the  subject  of  better  roads  was  mentioned, 
resulting  in  the  State  Legislature  enacting  a  law  providing  for 
the  appointment  of  a  commissio'n  to  revise  and  consolidate  the 
statutes  relating  to-  the  construction  and  improvement  of  roads, 
and  to  consider  the  question  of  further  State  assistance  for 
same. 


12 


X78  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

GOOD  ROADS,  WITH  EQUITABLE  TAXATION  FOR  THEIR  MAIN- 
TENANCE, is  the  great  point  and  leading  feature  for  legislative 
enactment.  Equitable  taxation  means  the  gross  assessment  of 
a  district  to  be  used  for  the  equal  benefit  of  such  area,  and  not 
as  in  the  present  system,  under  which  each  township  is  sepa- 
rately rated  and  has  to  maintain  its  own  roads.  For  example, 
some  townships  have  in  them  many  taxable  properties,  besides 
farm  lands,  while  some  adjoining  townships,  with  the  exception 
of  farm  lands,  possess  no  valuable  industrial  interests,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  they  are  expected  to  maintain  their  roads  to  the 
standard  of  their  more  fortunate  neighbors. 

HIGHWAYS,  as  a  rule,  are  pro  bono  publico,  and  such  legisla- 
tive features  as  are  hereinafter  stated  will  tend  to  place  each 
township  on  an  equality  with  its  neighbor,  so  far  as  the  burden 
of  maintenance  is  concerned.  One  of  the  best  arguments  for 
legislation  on  this  subject  may  be  illustrated  by  the  follow- 
ing : 

WHAT  WAS  THE  ORIGIN  OF  TURNPIKE  TRUSTS  ?  Under  the 
old  system  of  highway  maintenance,  each  parish  took  charge  of 
its  own  roads  and  bore  the  cost  of  such  repairs  as  were  neces- 
sary. They  naturally  spent  as  little  as  possible,  and  receiving 
no  aid  from  outside  sources,  the  roads  were  in  bad  condition. 
Roads  leading  directly  from  one  large  town  to  another,  and  upon 
which  the  traffic  was  heavy,  demanded  that  something  should  be 
done.  Turnpike  trusts  were  established,  possession  of  the 
direct  roads  given  them,  which  were  at  once  put  into  good  order 
and  came  under  proper  maintenance.  The  public  was  charged 
a  fee  for  vehicular  use  of  same,  which  was  readily  paid.  These 
trusts,  controlled  by  legal  enactment,  were  of  great  benefit  in 
educating  the  people  to  the  necessity  for  legislative  statutes 
that  would  place  all  other  highways  under  the  same  benefits. 
The  introduction  of  good  macadamized  roads  under  the  Turn- 
pike Trust  attracted  attention  and  public  recognition. 

Another  illustration  in  favor  of  State  legislation  would  be 
to  cite  the  effect  of  the  English  Highway  Act,  as  mentioned  in 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  179 

the  early  pages  of  this  paper.  Prior  to  the  operation  of  that  act, 
the  cost  of  maintenance  of  roads  was  upon  an  average  £12  to  £20 
($60  to  $100)  per  mile  per  annum.  They  were,  as  a  rule,  kept 
in  a  bad  state,  and  under  the  control  of  incompetent  persons, 
remained  so.  Within  three  or  four  years  after  the  introduction 
of  this  act,  the  roads  were  very  much  improved.  The  contract 
system  for  either  labor  or  materials  for  twenty-five  or  fifty  miles 
of  road  became  popular,  and  economy  in  expenditure,  as  already 
mentioned  under  economic  features,  was  quickly  shown.  The 
former  cost  was  greatly  reduced,  and  with  this  remarkable  differ- 
ence, that  for  a  cost  of  £8  ($40)  or  ;£io  ($50)  per  mile  per  annum 
(at  times  even  less)  the  public  had  good  roads  at  a  much  lighter 
cost.  In  the  proposed  enactment  empowering  a  commission  to 
revise  and  consolidate  the  present  highway  statutes  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  these  statutes  having  a  local  rather  than 
a  general  application,  it  might  be  advisable  to  repeal  the  same 
and  formulate  a  new  statute  covering  the  construction  and  main- 
tenance of  highways  of  the  whole  State. 

It  would  be  advisable  that  counties,  precincts  or  districts  be 
formed  into  highway  bureaus,  having  charge  of  an  area  of  say 
400  or  500  miles  of  roads,  excepting  cases  of  counties,  precincts 
or  districts,  where  it  would  be  more  convenient  to  join  one  or 
more  small  counties,  precincts  or  districts  together  if  the  mile- 
age of  each  is  small.  These  bureaus  would  be  composed  of 
representatives  from  each  township  in  such  county,  precinct  or 
district,  and  their  number  would  be  regulated  by  the  mileage, 
say  one  member  for  each  twenty  or  twenty-five  miles.  They 
would  meet  at  stated  periods  in  some  centrally  located  place,  as 
may  be  selected,  and  would  have  brought  before  them  all  esti- 
mates, contracts,  reports  of  the  local  civil  engineer  and  all  other 
necessary  business. 

The  appointment  of  a  practical  highway  engineer;  and  his 
remuneration  would  be  in  their  hands.  He  would  hold  office  as 
long  as  he  faithfully  preformed  his  duties,  which  would  consist 
in  personal  supervision  qf  all  roads  in  his  districts  and  seeing 


i8o  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

that  all  contracts  were  properly  carried  out.  All  orders  for  labor 
and  material  would  be  made  out  and  signed  by  him  and  counter- 
signed by  one  member  of  the  board,  then  passed  by  the  whole 
board  before  the  treasurer  paid  the  same.  He  would  make  an 
annual  report  embracing  the  state  of  the  roads,  the  amount  of 
expenditure,  and  should  include  an  estimate  of  the  following 
year's  outlay. 

The  members  of  the  board  would  be  non-salaried,  but  would 
receive  an  allowance  for  mileage  and  personal  expenses  attend- 
ing meetings.  The  secretary  and  treasurer  would  be  paid 
ofBcers.  These  boards  should  be  under  government  inspection. 
The  government  inspectors'  duties  would  be  to  visit  each  district 
once  a  year,  go  with  the  highway  engineer  over  the  roads,  audit 
the  accounts  of  the  board,  and  report  to  the  State  Legislature. 
These  government  inspectors  to  be  paid  .  by  the  State,  and 
beyond  this,  except  in  special  cases  as  below,  the  State 
assistance  ceases. 

An  occasional  demand  for  a  loan  from  the  State  to  some 
highway  board  may  be  made  for  the  purpose  of  draining  a  large 
area  or  other  heavy  improvement  upon  its  roads.  These  loans 
would  be  repayable  by  instalments  within  twenty  years  by  the 
owners  of  the  property  so  improved.  The  boards  would  also 
have  the  control  of  all  new  roads,  subject  to  the  right  of  appeal 
from  the  petitioners,  and  when  refused  by  the  board,  should  be 
definitely  settled  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  There  is 
but  little  doubt  that  this  form  of  control  would  quickly  result 
in  cheaper  roads,  with  one  great  difference,  that  the  taxpayer 
would  have  good  roads  for  a  less  cost  than  what  they  are  now 
under,  viz. :  Roads  spasmodically  attended  to,  and,  as  a  general 
rule,  not  one  mile  in  ten  can  be  called  good. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  give  comparative  examples 
of  the  old  and  new  systems.  Take  ten  townships  whose  mile- 
age is  about  400  miles,  and  the  average  appropriation,  judging 
from  one  closely  adjoining  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  was,  last  year, 
nearly  $45,000,  or  an  average  of  $112.50  per  mile.  This  is  a 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  181 

low  estimate,  probably,  as  one  or  more  townships  are  recorded 
as  having  appropriations  of  $6,000,  or  an  average  of  $150  per 
mile,  for  their  forty  miles. 

UNDER   THE    NEW    SYSTEM. 

Ten  townships^  with  400  miles,  the  Board  consisting  of 
twenty  or  twenty-five  members,  the  expenditure  would  be  about 
as  follows : 

Twenty -five   members'   mileage   and  all   incidental  expenses  in- 
curred by  the  Board  during  the  year,  about $1,000 

Highway  Engineer's  salary 2,000 

Secretary 500 

Treasurer 500 

Four  hundred  miles  of  road,    properly    maintained,    including 

main  and  cross-roads,  at  $75  per  mile 30,000 

Allowing  to  be  expended  on  new  roads 11,000 


Total $45,000 

The  ultimate  result  would  be  that  the  whole  district  would 
have  really  first-class  highways,  and  all  properties  adjoining  such 
would  be  greatly  increased  in  value.  * 

STATE   ASSISTANCE. 

The  growth  of  civilization  has  irresistibly  developed  National 
progress,  especially  in  the  improved  means  of  transportation — 

First. — By  turnpike  roads. 

Second. — By  canals. 

Third. — By  railroads. 

In  the  last  two  years  much  has  been  said  about  the  national 
surplus.  With  such  a  plethora  of  money  it  would  be  of  interest 
to  expend  some  in  the  shape  of  loans,  extending  over  thirty 
years  at  a  low  rate  of  interest,  for  the  improvement  of  the  various 
State  highways  and  helping  the  weaker  ones,  so  as  to  enable  the 
same  in  time  to  assist  their  highway  bureaus,  and  long  before 
the  time  of  repayment  arrived  the  whole  roads  of  the  nation 
would  have  been  put  into  good  order,  and  thus  materially  add  to 


1 82  ROAD  MAKING  ANE.  MAINTENANCE. 

the  benefit  of  the  people.  In  the  suggestions  under  the  head  of 
Highway  Districts,  boards  by  enactment  would  have  vested  in 
them,  to  hold  in  trust,  all  real  and  personal  properties  so  far  as 
the  making  of  highways  is  concerned.  Under  the  provisions  of 
the  English  Highway  Act  the  powers  of  the  board  are  limited 
in  respect  to  expenditure  by  taking  the  amount  of  highway  ex- 
penditure of  each  parish  for  the  three  years  preceding  the  intro- 
duction of  the  act  as  a  basis,  and  striking  an  average ;  beyond 
that,  it  would  be  necessary  to  obtain  the  consent  of  four-fifths  of 
the  ratepayers  of  such  district ;  also  in  the  obtaining  of  loans 
on  mortgage  of  the  highway  rate,  the  terms  of  repayment  are 
limited  so  as  not  to  create  an  assessment  of  more  than  tenpence 
in  the  pound  (4  cents  on  the  $i)  at  any  one  time,  and  that  the 
aggregate  payment  should  not  exceed  in  any  one  year  more  than 
two  shillings  and  sixpence  in  the  pound  (12  cents  on  the  $i). 
State  assistance,  with  such  form  of  protection,  would  be  of  in- 
estimable benefit  and  of  material  use  to  both  cities  and  country 
districts. 

SUMMARY. 

In  conclusion,  it  is /espectf ully  submitted  that  an  endeavor 
has  been  made  to  comply  with  the  spirit  of  the  circular  issued 
asking  for  essays,  believing  it  requires  more  the  scientific  and 
practical  principles  of  the  art  of  road-making  and  maintenance  for 
the  better  education  of  the  people  to  a  necessity  for  State  legislation 
for  its  highways,  and  has  treated  more  particularly  the  construc- 
tion, economic  and  legislative  features  in  such  form,  rather  than 
giving  any  detailed  method  of  construction,  which  would  vary 
considerably  with  location,  and  necessitate  plans  and  specifica- 
tions for  correct  estimating,  and  concludes  with  the  hope  that 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  may  soon  have  good  roads,  with  equi- 
table taxation  for  their  maintenance. 

MARCH,  1890. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


HONORABLE  MENTION.     PAPER  No.  19. 

BY 

GEORGE  B.  FLEECE,  C.  E., 

Memphis,  Tenn. 


Modes  of  construction  may  be  uniform  only  under  like  con- 
ditions. The  ruling  conditions  are  physical  and  financial — 
which  vary  so  widely  that  it  becomes  impracticable  to  compass 
the  whole  problem  in  appropriate  details — the  nearest  approach 
being  suggestions  general  in  their  application. 

It  may  be  assumed  that  good  roads  are  a  necessity  anywhere 
as  ruling  conditions  of  prosperity  and  progress,  social  and  pecu- 
niary, and  become  in  this  view  appropriate  subjects  of  legislation 
and  public  support,  with  more  or  less  relative  importance  as 
special  conditions  may  require. 

In  old,  established  and  densely  populated  countries,  the  ruling 
requirements  are  social  and  economic.  In  new  territory  they 
become  prominently  developing  agencies,  and  supplement  other 
less  valuable  speculative  means  of  "booming"  the  country. 

The  value  of  good  roads  everywhere  justifies  their  construc- 
tion at  any  cost  within  reasonable  bounds,  varying  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  object  in  view. 

The  following  will  apply  as  general,  ruling  conditions  : 

For  country  roads  a  general  county  tax  on  property  and 
polls  should  be  levied,  and  this  should  apply  to  the  wHole  county, 
including  municipalities. 

This  fund  should  be  applied  first  to  radial  roads  reaching 
out  from  municipal  centres  so  as  to  accommodate  the  bulk  of 
travel  which  is  ordinarily  in  the  line  of  largest  trade  and  inter- 
change. 


1 84  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Still,  there  are  instances  in  which  county  highways  are 
parts  of  long  and  important  highways  connecting  cities  or  points 
of  production  with  points  of  shipment  or  sale,  and  such  roads 
may  take  precedence  in  order  of  importance  over  radial  roads 
leading  from  county  towns  and  large  cities. 

Provision  should  be  made  whereby  individual  contributions 
may  influence  the  distribution  of  funds  to  any  extent  consistent 
with  the  accomplishment  of  the  main  end  in  view — to  wit :  the 
construction  of  county  roads  on  lines  of  greatest  general  im- 
portance. 

The  limit  of  taxation  for  road  construction  would  vary  with 
the  conditions,  such,  to  wit :  as  relative  demand,  and  existing 
financial  conditions — such  as  taxable  property,  indebtedness,  etc. 

In  some  countries,  notably  new  territory,  owned  and  occu- 
pied by  a  vigorous  and  enterprising  people,  speculative  consider- 
ations might  justify  expenditures  on  public  roads  far  in  excess 
of  a  normal  and  judicious  rate  in  older  established  communities. 
Estimating  for  the  latter,  whether  municipal  or  rural,  it  would  be 
safe  to  fix  the  limit  of  total  property  taxation  in  cities  at  2.5  per 
cent.,  and  in  country  districts  at  1.5  per  cent,  of  taxable  values, 
while  the  poll  tax  for  roads  upon  every  male  inhabitant  between 
the  ages  of  21  and  50  should  be  about  $3.  Within  these  limits, 
it  would  generally  be  a  wise  and  remunerative  scheme  to  ap- 
proach a  perfected  and  thorough  system  of  roads  and  streets  at 
such  a  rate  of  progress  as  would  finish  the  work  in  twenty  years, 
keeping  pace  meanwhile  with  increasing  population.  The  aver- 
age city  and  county  cannot  compass  the  work  in  a  shorter  time 
without  a  rate  of  taxation  that  would  be  seriously  oppressive. 
But,  of  course,  there  are  many  localities  where  without  serious 
or  oppressive  taxation  the  desired  work  may  be  accomplished  in 
a  shorter  time. 

All  roads  should  be  owned  by  the  community  and  free  to 
use  as  public  roads.  Roads  built  by  individuals  or  corporations, 
and  operated  for  individual  or  corporate  benefit,  place  serious 
limitations  upon  trade  and  travel,  and  throw  the  burden  of  their 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  185 

maintenance  generally  upon  a  community  of  working  men,  who, 
while  they  are  the  most  valuable  element  of  ordinary  communi- 
ties, are  at  the  same  time  least  able  to  bear  it.  And  further, 
when  roads  are  paid  for  and  owned  by  the  community — each 
paying  according  to  his  pecuniary  ability — the  burden  of  taxa- 
tion is  uniform,  equitable  and  seldom  oppressive  ;  while  the 
aggregated  wealth  of  a  community  may  accomplish  with  ease 
that  which  individual  or  corporate  capital  would  never  under- 
take without  assurance  of  profit  largely  in  excess  of  what  the 
heaviest  general  tax  should  be. 

The  end  in  view  being  the  construction  and  maintenance  of 
country  roads,  upon  the  best  modes  possible  within  ordinary 
limitations  as  to  means,  which  should  be  drawn  mainly  from 
taxation,  I  would  suggest  the  following : 

Not  intending  to  attempt  to  formulate  now  in  detail  appro- 
priate provisions  for  a  general  road  law,  I  would  suggest  some 
ruling  requirements  of  any  road  law  intended  to  accomplish  the 
end  in  view. 

The  proper  administration  of  a  public  fund  intended  to  be 
expended  in  the  construction  in  detail  of  a  comprehensive  sys- 
tem of  public  roads,  requires  the  simplest  and  most  concentrated 
system  of  business  management,  as  nearly  like  that  of  a  private 
enterprise  as  may  be  safe  and  legally  practicable. 

The  agents  employed  should  have  the  required  experience 
and  intelligence  for  their  respective  duties,  together  with  all 
necessary  authority  and  clearly  defined  personal  responsibility. 
Such  an  agency  would  be  a  board  of  road  commissioners  and  an 
experienced  civil  engineer.  This  board  should  elect  from  their 
number  a  chairman  and  a  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  it  should 
appoint  an  engineer.  This  would  complete  the  official  road 
organization  for  the  county. 

Such  a  concentrated  plan  of  organization  will  at  once  be 
recognized  as  a  vast  improvement  upon  the  existing  system, 
which  devolves  upon  the  county  court — a  cumbersome  body 
generally  of  ordinary  men,  often  fifty  in  number — the  conduc- 


1 86  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

tion  of  a  business  requiring  special  skill,  personal  attention  in 
detail  and  large  expenditure  of  money. 

ENGINEERING — CONSTRUCTION. 

We  will  suppose  that  an  engineer  of  experience  in  road 
construction  is  employed  with  all  necessary  authority,  to  wit :  to 
prepare  forms  of  contracts,  specifications  and  details  applicable 
to  the  working  execution  of  same — establish  grades,  alignment, 
and  width  of  roadbeds,  depth  and  width  of  ditches,  both  coin- 
cident with  alignment  of  road  and  lateral  so  far  as  necessary  for 
thorough  drainage  of  roadway,  together  with  such  other  powers 
as  may  become  necessary  or  advisable  to  exercise,  such  as 
changes  of  alignment  of  established  roads  in  cases  in  which 
important  changes  may  be  effected,  and  such  police  powers  as 
may  be  necessary  to  prevent  damage,  etc. 

Under  such  supervision  the  practical  work  of  road  construc- 
tion should  be  conducted  step  by  step  as  follows  : 

First,  an  instrumental  preliminary  survey  should  be  made 
with  a  view  to  final  location  and  construction.  Such  a  survey 
with  level  and  transit  will  afford  data  upon  which  to  obtain  all 
information  properly  preliminary  to  final  location  and  construc- 
tion, to  wit :  width  of  roadway  at  every  point,  maximum  grade 
required,  points  in  which  it  may  be  expedient  to  change  or 
amend  alignment  of  old  road,  number,  length  and  capacity  of 
required  bridges  and  culverts,  high  water  levels  of  streams, 
quantities  of  earth  or  stone  excavation  and  embankment,  aver- 
age haul  of  each,  etc. 

Upon  these  data  estimates  of  quantities  and  cost  of  con- 
struction should  be  made  preparatory  to  letting  the  work  of 
contract ;  and  contracts  should  refer  to  these  estimates  as  being 
approximate  preliminary  estimates  of  w'ork  to  be  done,  but  sub- 
ject to  such  alterations  of  grades,  alignment,  width,  depth,  etc., 
as  the  Board  of  Commissioners  may  choose  to  make,  the  final 
estimate  only  to  determine  the  exact  amount  and  value  of  work 
done  by  the  contractor.  Said  estimate  to  be  made  by  the  engi- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  187 

neer  in  charge,  and  his  estimate  under  the  contract  to  be  final  as 
between  the  contracting  parties. 

In  awarding  contracts,  while  it  should  be  the  rule  to  accept 
the  lowest  bid,  yet  it  would  be  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
utmost  liberty  in  making  the  award,  the  several  elements  of  rel- 
ative ability,  experience  and  character  of  contractors  to  have 
due  weight  as  considerations  determinative  of  the  proper  award. 

After  said  and  such  preliminary  surveys,  etc.,  and  before 
letting  to  contract  any  part  of  the  work,  such  a  portion  of  the 
year's  work  as  may  be  accomplished  by  the  county  or  State 
workhouse  force,  also  that  of  taxpayers  who  may  be  allowed  to 
commute  their  poll  tax  with  equivalent  labor,  should  be  reserved 
out  of  the  section  or  sections  to  be  put  to  contract,  but  under 
such  arrangements  as  would  provide  for  progress  pari passu,  so 
as  to  insure  progressive  completion  in  regular  and  not  conflict- 
ing order. 

So  far  as  found  practicable,  it  would  be  best  to  embrace  in 
one  contract  all  the  work,  earth,  stone,  bridges,  culverts  within 
a  given  section,  so  that  conflicts  and  consequent  loss  may  be 
avoided. 

MODES    OF    CONSTRUCTION. 

Beginning  at  city  limits,  the  width  of  a  graded  roadbed 
should  be  twenty-four  feet,  with  ditches  through  cuts  five  feet 
wide  on  each  side,  so  that  the  top  width  would  be  uniform, 
while  the  side  ditches  should  continue  to  connection  with 
bridges  and  culverts,  following  the  outer  line  of  embankment  in 
unbroken  grade  and  alignment,  at  no  point  nearer  the  base  of 
embankment  than  two  feet.  These  ditches  should  slope  in  cuts 
from  the  edges  of  the  graded  roadbed  to  the  outer  line  of  ditch, 
at  a  depth  of  fifteen  inches  below  the  crown  of  earth  roadway 
generally. 

But  if  the  line  of  drainage  be  long,  the  width  and  depth  of 
side  ditches  should  be  accordingly  increased,  so  as  to  afford 
assurance  of  capacity  enough  to  carry  without  overflow  the 
entire  volume  of  water. 


i88  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

The  outer  slope  of  ditches  should  start  from  lowest  point 
and  take  a  slope  outward  from  the  roadbed  to  the  top  of  the  cut 
of  from  one-half  to  one  and  one-half  to  one,  varying  within  these 
limits  according  to  the  character  of  the  materials. 

In  embankments  slopes  should  be  one  and  one-half  to  one, 
this  being  the  general  angle  of  repose.  But  in  rock  cuttings  the 
sides  may  be  vertical. 

In  laying  out  the  work,  the  engineer  will  find  that  in  order 
to  preserve  the  alignment,  his  main  line  of  reference  should  be 
staked  out  seventeen  feet  from  the  centre,  thus  marking  in  cuts 
the  outer  line  of  ditches.  With  this  line  fixed  by  permanent 
stakes,  the  contractor  may  easily  follow  his  plan  if  furnished 
with  a  profile  on  which  the  depths  of  cuts  and  fills  should  be 
written  in  plain  figures  at  every  station  of  100  feet.  It  is 
impracticable  on  travelled  roads  to  preserve  the  centre  line. 

In  building  embankments  it  is  necessary  to  allow  for  more 
or  less  settlement  as  the  manner  of  construction  and  character 
of  material  would  indicate,  the  main  modifying  circumstance 
being  the  mode  of  construction. 

Embankments  built  with  scrapers  are  necessarily  compact 
in  the  ordinary  mode  of  using  them,  and  such  embankments 
may  be  generally  accurately  finished  to  grade,  while  embank- 
ments made  with  dump-carts  should  be  raised  above  grade  about 
one-half  an  inch  to  the  vertical  foot,  and  those  built  with  the 
wheelbarrow  or  thrown  up  from  the  sides  should  be  raised  above 
grade  about  one  and  one-half  inches  to  the  vertical  foot. 

The  width  of  roadway  should  diminish  as  the  road  is 
extended  from  city  terminus,  being  generally  twenty-four  feet 
for  the  first  mile  ;  twenty-two  feet  for  the  second ;  twenty  for 
the  third ;  eighteen  for  the  fourth,  the  latter  width  being  the 
minimum  except  in  stone,  in  which  a  width  of  fourteen  feet,  as 
a  matter  of  economy,  would  be  admissable. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE,  189 

GRADES. 

Generally,  the  maximum  grade  should  not  exceed  three  feet 
vertical  to  100  feet  lineal ;  and  while  it  is  often  necessary  to 
raise  the  maximum  to  as  much  as  ten  feet  in  100,  such  grades  are 
very  objectionable,  increasing  the  hazards  of  travel  in  sleet  and 
snow  and  imposing  serious  limitations  on  maximum  loads. 

It  should  be  remembered,  also,  that  the  maximum  grades, 
whatever  the  grade  of  other  sections  of  the  same  road,  rules 
and  limits  the  pulling  capacity  of  every  team  passing  over  it. 

Inasmuch  as  travel  increases  as  the  city  terminus  is 
approached,  maximum  grades  should  be  avoided  near  cities  as 
far  as  practicable,  while  approaching  the  country  terminus 
grades  may  be  steeper. 

Long  grades,  especially  when  steep,  should,  when  practica- 
ble, be  avoided,  for  two  reasons.  First,  because  they  impose  a 
protracted  strain  upon  teams,  often  injurious,  or  requiring  teams 
to  stop,  with  the  hazard  of  backing  down  grade  or  balking  when 
required  to  start  again.  The  second  objection  is  the  accelera- 
tion of  currents  of  water  in  ditches,  with  the  consequent  violent 
abrasion  of  banks.  So  it  would  be  advisable  to  'break  long 
grades  with  occasional  stretches  of  level  or  descending  grades. 
Again,  level  grades  through  cuts  should  be  avoided,  a  slight 
descent  being  necessary  to  allow  surface  water  to  gravitate 
along  side  ditches,  leaving  the  roadbed  well  drained  after  a  rain. 

The  surface  of  a  graded  roadbed  should  be  rounded  up  to 
a  crown  at  the  centre  of  about  six  inches  above  the  level  of  the 
outer  margin  in  all  cases  in  which  the  road  is  to  be  finished  as  a 
dirt  road,  but  when  formed  to  receive  a  covering  of  stone  or 
gravel,  the  finished  crown  of  earth  surface  should  have  a  rise  of 
four  inches  in  twelve  feet. 

In  all  cases,  earth  work  should  be  done  early  in  the  Spring, 
so  as  to  become  compact  before  the  rains  and  frosts  of  Fall  and 
Winter ;  and  so  far  as  may  be  convenient,  this  state  of  solidity 
should  precede  the  spreading  of  stone  or  gravel. 

Still,  it  must  be  considered  that  the  spreading  of  stone  or 


*9°  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

gravel  should  also  be  early  in  the  Spring  or  Summer,  for  it 
favors  assurance  of  solidity  to  give  it  the  time  for  settlement 
under  travel  before  the  rains  and  frosts  of  Fall  and  Winter. 

But  this  would  not  be  compatible  with  the  best  results  in 
one  season,  and  the  best  approach  to  this  would  be  to  push  the 
grading  to  early  completion  and  follow  with  the  superstructure, 
beginning,  say  at  the  city  limits  and  completing  in  the  order  of 
completion  of  the  roadbed. 

BRIDGES. 

Bridges  may  be  of  iron,  wood,  or  iron  and  wood  combined, 
and  these  may  be  constructed  upon  a  variety  of  plans.  The 
engineer  in  charge  may  readily  choose  between  them  with 
little  risk  of  error  when  he  knows  the  relative  price  of  iron 
and  wood  at  the  site  or  sites  at  which  bridges  are  to  be 
constructed. 

Generally,  iron  bridges  should  be  used  for  all  spans  exceed- 
ing fifty  feet,  and  in  many  localities  are  the  cheapest. 

The  engineer  will  find  that  in  any  locality  near  a  railroad, 
bridges  may  be  purchased  and  erected  at  a  low  rate  per  foot, 
which,  being  designed,  often  patented,  and  in  every  case  fully 
tested  as  to  strength  and  adaptation,  may  be  relied  on.  So, 
also,  may  such  wooden  bridges  be  obtained  in  the  same  way. 
So  that  the  engineer  in  charge  may  be  fully  competent  for  his 
position,  even  if  his  experience  in  bridge  construction,  or  his 
scientific  knowledge  of  the  principles  and  details  involved,  may 
be  limited. 

Bridges  of  twenty  feet  span  and  under  may  be  of  the 
utmost  simplicity,  consisting  only  of  stringers,  flooring  and 
stable  points  of  bearing  at  the  ends. 

The  simplest  and  best  plan  for  such  bridges  would  be  to 
use  only  one  size  of  timber,  to  wit :  2  by  12  plank.  These, 
when  used  as  stringers  or  floor  beams,  may  be  doubled  and 
spiked  together  at  intervals  of  four  feet,  with  a  strip  of  one- 
inch  plank  between,  and  spiked  through.  In  all  cases  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  191 

required  thickness  of  stringers  should  be  obtained  by  using 
several  thicknesses  of  plank  all  bound  together,  instead  of  one 
stringer  of  equivalent  cross  section — for  the  reason  that  the 
first  will  last  longer,  will  require  less  labor  or  machinery  in 
erection,  may  be  obtained  for  less  money  and  makes  a  more 
reliable  beam. 

Flooring  in  all  cases  should  be  secured  at  the  exposed  ends 
by  a  strip  of  like  timber  spiked  down  over  the  ends,  thus  pre- 
venting curling  up  under  the  influence  of  the  sun. 

Generally,  the  entire  floor  of  bridges  of  fifteen  feet  span 
and  under  should  be  covered  with  gravel  or  broken  stone,  when 
such  material  is  used  in  the  road  bed. 

In  my  experience  such  a  treatment  results  in  great  economy 
of  maintenance — the  flooring  being  thereby  relieved  of  abra- 
sion under  the  wheels,  and  lasts  twice  as  long  as  when  not  so 
protected. 

In  alluvial  soils,  when  timber  is  used  in  abutments,  they 
may  be  of  the  very  simplest  form,  consisting  of  caps,  posts 
and  a  backing  of  two-inch  plank.  The  posts,  in  such  cases, 
should  be  sunk  in  post  holes  about  five  feet  below  the  water 
bed,  the  posts,  caps  and  stringers  being  securely  fastened 
together. 

For  spans  of  twenty-five  feet  the  stringer  should  be  sup- 
ported by  braces  abutting  against  a  king  post  at  the  centre,  or 
by  suspension  rods  beneath.  Spans  of  forty  feet  should  have 
three  panels,  with  queen  posts  and  straining  beams  above,  or 
suspension  rods  beneath — each  upon  plans  in  detail  known  to 
all  engineers. 

When  spans  exceed  forty  feet,  the  bridge  should  be  a  truss, 
with  panels  of  about  ten  feet,  the  height  and  width  being 
increased  with  length  of  span. 

Often  serious  obstacles  to  the  construction  of  cheap  gravel 
roads  are  encountered  in  bottoms  boggy  and  occasionally  inun- 
dated. Means  may  not  be  available  to  pursue  a  permanent 
plan  of  construction  embracing  high  embankments,  etc.  In 


192  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

such  cases  it  may  be  sufficient  to  provide  a  practicable  crossing 
after  subsidence  of  floods.  This  may  be  done  cheaply  by  build- 
ing at  such  point  a 

PLANK   ROAD. 

Such  a  road  should  be  built  flat  on  the  earth's  surface,  and 
should  consist  of  longitudinal  stringers  resting  on  cross  sills, 
plank  flooring  spiked  transversely  on  stringers,  and  all  anchored 
and  securely  held  in  place  by  downright  timbers  spiked  at  the 
top  and  every  outside  joint  to  the  stringers,  and  sunk  into  the 
ground  vertically,  like  posts,  about  five  feet  deep,  and  well 
rammed  for  stability.  All  the  lumber  may  be  2  by  8  except 
mudsills. 

Such  a  road  will  stand  intact  under  a  heavy  overflow,  and 
will  be  available  for  travel  until  it  rots. 

CULVERTS. 

Culverts  may  be  of  wood,  stone,  brick,  terra-cotta  pipe  and 
iron.  Of  these,  wooden  culverts  are  the  cheapest,  but  should 
be  avoided  when  considerations  of  economy  do  not  make  their 
use  compulsory.  When  used,  they  apply  to  openings  of  five 
feet  and  under.  When  the  opening  must  be  larger,  it  would  be 
well  to  adopt  the  bridge  form.  No  culvert  should  be  of  less 
than  twelve  inches  inside  diameter. 

For  culverts  of  two  feet  opening  rubble-stone  masonry  or 
terra-cotta  may  be  used — the  cheapest  at  the  locality  to  be 
adopted. 

In  laying  terra-cotta  pipe,  care  should  be  taken  to  place 
the  several  joints  well  down  upon  the  natural  surface,  in  perfect 
alignment,  with  a  slight  fall,  say  three  inches  in  thirty  feet. 
Place  the  flange  end  downward,  jam  the  ends  well  to  close  bear- 
ings, fill  around  with  earth  and  tramp  hard. 

The  lower  end  for  two  joints  should  rest  on  a  firm  founda- 
tion of  stone  or  brick  or  timber,  extended  as  an  apron  four  feet 
below  the  end  of  pipe.  The  common  practice  is  to  close  the 
joints  with  cement,  but  this  is  an  unnecessary  and  often  trouble- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  193 

some  expense.  In  laying  hundreds  of  such  pipes  in  the  last  six 
years  I  have  never  used  cement,  and  have  found  no  necessity  for 
its  use. 

Arch  culverts  are  very  expensive,  and  the  cases  in  which 
they  are  necessary  or  advisable  are  rare,  except  in  cities. 

SUPERSTRUCTURE. 

The  supposition  is  that  the  country  road  will  be  built  of 
broken  stone  or  gravel,  these  being  the  best,  or  certainly  as  good 
as  country  districts  require  and  can  afford. 

As  to  the  material,  stone  and  gravel,  the  value  of  these  rela- 
tively should  be  determined  by  the  special  peculiarities  of  each 
and  their  relative  cost.  Generally,  broken  stone  is  the  best, 
yet  there  are  varieties  of  gravel  better  than  any  quality  of 
broken  stone. 

Taking  limestone  as  the  standard  for  macadam,  any  gravel 
of  greater  uniformity  of  size,  hardness  of  substance  and  smaller 
dimensions  is  a  better  material  for  roads.  When  gravel  is  angu- 
lar in  shape,  hard  like  flint  and  of  uniform  size,  of,  say  the  size 
of  a  pea  to  that  of  a  pigeon  egg,  it  will  form  a  road  bed  hard, 
compact  and  durable,  and  almost  absolutely  water  tight,  and 
become,  under  the  settling  and  compacting  influence  of  travel 
and  time,  a  homogeneous  mass,  solid,  smooth  of  surface  and 
capable  of  bearing  without  sinking  or  cutting  the  heaviest  loads  ; 
and  this  until  it  is  worn  down  to  a  thickness  of  three  inches  or 
even  less.  But  to  insure  this,  it  should  be  treated  as  follows  : 

The  earth's  surface  should  be  smooth,  dry  and  compact 
and  settled  to  what  may  be  called  a  final  repose ;  time,  rain, 
travel  and  rolling  will  accelerate  this,  the  most  favorable  condi- 
tion for  receiving  gravel ;  but  in  practice,  it  will  not  generally  be 
found  practicable  to  await  such  conditions. 

However,  avoiding  a  muddy  and  rough  or  uneven  surface, 
it  will  generally  answer  every  important  requirement  to  begin 
gravelling  on  a  smooth  and  dry  surface,  hard  enough  to  hold  up, 
without  cutting,  loaded  gravel  wagons  of  four  inch  tread  on  tire. 


194  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

The  earth's  surface  being  slightly  rounded  up  to  a  crown  of 
about  four  inches,  the  gravel  should  be  spread  with  a  vertical 
depth  of  eight  inches,  loose  at  the  centre,  diminishing  to  three 
inches  depth  at  the  sides,  the  surface  being  left  a  flattened  ver- 
tical curve,  the  width  of  gravel  being  twenty  feet  for  a  twenty- 
four  foot  earth  grade  and  fourteen  feet  for  an  eighteen  foot  earth 
grade.  This  should  be  rolled  with  an  iron  roller  six  feet  long  of 
8000  pounds  weight,  with  three  cylinders  of  four  feet  diameter, 
each  working  freely  and  independently  on  one  axle,  beginning  on 
the  sides  and  finishing  in  the  centre,  and  repeating  in  sections 
as  long  as  possible,  as  many  times  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure 
a  perfectly  smooth  surface  of  the  utmost  solidity  attainable 
under  such  a  process.  A  heavier  roller  will  heave  up  a  mass  of 
loose  gravel  in  front  and  will  not  answer. 

After  the  rolling,  travel  may  be  admitted,  but  this  should  be 
followed  by  a  regular  system  of  surfacing,  thus  retaining  the 
designed  form  of  a  road  bed  until  the  surface  becomes  smooth 
and  fixed. 

Generally  this  condition  of  superficial  smoothness  and 
solidity  is  attainable  in  a  few  days,  the  length  of  time  being 
varied  by  the  quality  of  gravel,  amount  and  character  of  travel 
and  the  kind  of  weather. 

Gravel  with  a  slight  admixture  of  coarse  sand  or  iron 
deposits  will  settle  promptly,  and  in  some  cases  concrete  to  the 
solidity  of  stone. 

But  any  species  of  gravel  with  the  aid  of  dry  sand  or  clay 
will,  under  travel,  find  final  repose  and  become  compact — almost 
water  tight — and  hard  and  stiff  enough  to  resist  abrasion  or 
sinking  under  the  heaviest  wagon  travel.  This  might  be  assumed 
theoretically,  and  is  absolutely  demonstrated  on  forty  miles  of 
gravel  road  built  under  my  personal  supervision  in  the  last  six 
years. 

Such  a  road,  whether  constructed  of  broken  stone  of  a  size 
that  will  pass  through  a  one  and  one-half  inch  ring  or  less,  or  of 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  195 

gravel,  may  be  called  the  standard  country  road,  and  while  \( 
has  not  greater  original  stability  than  the  Telford  road,  is  never, 
theless  better  and  much  cheaper  for  the  following  reasons  : 

1st.  The  gravel  or  broken  stone  covering  will  not  sink  into 
the  subjacent  earth  by  its  own  weight,  nor  is  it  so  liable  to 
sink  as  it  would  be  if  the  bottom  or  so-called  foundation  were 
rubble  stone,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Telford  pavement,  for  the 
gravel  bed,  after  becoming  compact,  arches  the  subjacent  earth 
bed,  making  a  natural  homogeneous  bond  with  it,  and  its  weight, 
together  with  its  load,  is  borne  mainly  by  the  arch  crowning, 
and  gravitation  downward  is  arrested  by  the  distribution  of  the 
weight  over  the  entire  under  surface. 

It  is  not  true,  as  theoretically  assumed,  that  the  weight  is 
"  transmitted  from  the  point  of  contact  downward  in  the  line  of 
a  cone,  the  base  of  which  is  to  the  apex  as  the  square  of  the 
vertical  depth,"  for  while  this  is  true  of  a  weight  or  force  all  of 
which  is  extended  on  the  bottom,  it  is  not  true  in  the  case  under 
consideration,  for  the  weight  or  force  is  arrested  by  the  bond  of  , 
the  mass  through  which  the  force  must  act ;  so  that  the  weight 
or  force  superimposed  must  crush  through  the  compacted  and 
interwoven  integument  of  the  mass  before  its  direct  influence 
is  felt  within  the  theoretical  area  of  its  natural  spread.  The 
weight  that  is  transmitted  through  the  gravel  superstruc- 
ture must  first  crush  through  the  top  crust.  As  long  as  the 
surface  stands  intact  the  bottom  is  unaffected.  Therefore,  :',i 
the  superstructure  of  a  compacted  gravel  or  broken  stone  bed  will 
not  sink  or  break  through  and  disrupt  the  bond,  there  is  no  need 
of  a  foundation  of  stone  under  it,  except  for  drainage ;  for  it 
would  but  rest  there,  inert  and  useless,  until  such  a  superficial 
disruption  should  occur,  and  this  will  not  occur  as  long  as  the 
gravel  bed  resting  on  an  earth  base  shall  be  of  more  than  three 
Inches  in  thickness,  as  has  been  demonstrated  to  my  perfect 
satisfaction,  after  knowing  the  results  of  travel  on  such  roads  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  and  particularly  on  forty  miles  of  such 
~Qad  bed  built  under  my  personal  supervision. 


196  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

I  state  it  with  perfect  confidence  that  there  is  not  a  known 
instance  of  a  wagon,  loaded  less  than  8000  pounds  weight,  cut- 
ting through  or  disrupting  the  bed  and  bond  of  a  properly  con- 
structed gravel  or  broken  stone  road  of  any  compacted  thickness 
exceeding  three  inches  in  depth,  if  properly  drained. 

Again,  if  such  a  roadbed  will  not  sink  or  disrupt  under 
heavy  travel,  it  must  be  all  that  is  necessary  to  meet  the  end  of 
sufficient  stability. 

But  it  may  be  proposed  to  compound  the  structure,  making 
the  base  or  so-called  foundation  of  rubble  stone,  with  the  fine 
material  on  top,  as  the  Telford. 

To  this  there  are  serious  objections  : 

First,  the  surface  section  should  be  as  deep  as  in  the  case 
of  an  earth  base,  for  it  is  upon  the  integrity  of  the  bond  that 
we  must  rely  for  stability,  and  this  bond  cannot  be  effected  in 
homogeneous  and  interwoven  bed  without  a  homogeneous  mass. 
So  that  when  there  is  a  top  gravel  bed  and  a  bottom  rubble 
stone  bed,  the  bond  is  broken  at  their  line  of  contact.  If  the 
top  be  not  strong  and  self-supporting,  the  natural  and  inevitable 
result  will  be  a  grinding  force  active  along  the  line  of  contact, 
or  line  of  change  of  material,  the  processes  of  grinding  and 
wearing  on  the  surface  and  at  the  gravel  bottom,  together  with 
the  disruptive  effects  of  pounding  between  opposing  forces, 
resulting  in  rapid  ruin  of  the  upper  or  gravel  covering. 

This  result,  naturally  enough  to  be  easily  foreseen,  has  fol- 
lowed the  Telford  plan  in  sections  of  road  built  under  my  per- 
sonal supervision,  and  the  only  remedy  I  have  found  has  been 
to  reconstruct,  tearing  up  and  removing  the  rubble,  regrading 
and  covering  with  broken  stone  or  gravel. 

But  it  is  claimed  that  a  substratum  of  rubble  stone  is  nec- 
essary as  a  foundation  for  the  gravel  or  broken  stone  superstruc- 
ture. To  this  I  reply  that  the  graded  earth  surface  is  a  suitable 
and  sufficient  foundation  in  all  but  an  occasional,  exceptional 
<case,  to  wit :  in  soft  material  approaching  the  fluid  state. 

In  such  a  case  the  remedv  is  to  remove  it  down  to  a  solid 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  197 

bed,  in  which  broken  stone  or  gravel  will  not  sink,  and  this  point 
is  obtained  in  a  material  in  which  rubble  stone  will  sink.  After 
the  removal  of  mud  in  semi-fluid  state,  fill  up  to  the  surface 
with  gravel,  or  if  the  material  be  very  deep,  drain  it  and  build 
on  the  retained  earth ;  or,  if  this  be  impracticable,  use  plank 
for  a  bottom,  or  bridge  over.  Ln  any  case  in  which  a  coating  of 
gravel  will  sink,  rubble  stone  will  sink  also  and  much  sooner, 
the  one  gravitating  as  a  homogeneous  mass  distributed  over  the 
full  width  of  the  surface,  the  other  as  individual  stones,  each 
gravitating  with  its  individual  and  unbonded  weight. 

Again,  when  a  macadam  road  begins  to  wear,  and  at  any 
stage  of  superficial  wearing,  it  may  be  restored  to  grade  by  a 
fresh  coating  of  the  same  material  which,  if  the  precaution  be 
taken  of  loosening  up  the  worn  surface  after  the  removal  of 
mud  or  earth  deposits,  will  adhere  and  combine  with  the  mass, 
restoring  in  a  short  time  the  original,  perfect  and  homogeneous 
bond — a  bond  which  is  impossible  between  two  materials,  the 
one  in  large  masses  and  the  other  in  the  form  of  gravel  or 
broken  stone. 

It  will  be  observed  (from  the  hypothetical,  sectional  diagram, 
not  reproduced)  that  whatever  be  the  cost  of  the  section  on  top, 
which  represents  the  macadam,  the  whole  of  the  macadam 
is  less  than  half  of  the  Telford  in  quantity  and  cost  of  con- 
struction. In  practice  I  have  encountered  a  serious  difficulty 
in  constructing  the  Telford  road,  which  does  not  occur  in 
the  macadam. 

First. — A  trench  must  be  dug  to  receive  the  rubble  stone,  of 
say  eight  inches  depth  after  the  road  earth  bed  has  been  formed. 
If  in  cuts,  the  earth  excavated  must  be  carted  out  of  the  way. 
And  it  is  worth  while  to  suggest  that  the  trench  itself  is  seri- 
ously objectionable  for  two  important  reasons  ;  the  one  that  it 
is  generally  softer  than  the  surface,  liable  to  fill  with  water 
before  the  stone  can  be  laid,  and  even  then  it  becomes  in  its 
relation  to  its  surroundings  an  artificial  water  basin. 

Second. — If  no  trench  is  formed,  and  the  rubble  stone  is 


198  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

laid  on  the  graded  surface,  it  runs  the  roadbed  so  high  above  the 
original  earth  grade  that  fresh  earth  must  be  added  to  the  slopes 
and  sides,  so  as  to  afford  a  safe  margin  of  earth  at  the  level  of 
travel,  otherwise  the  metal  bed  will  be  sixteen  inches  higher  than 
the  earth  bank,  and  wagons  must  keep  a  safe  distance  from  the 
edge  or  run  the  risk  of  turning  over. 

So  it  must  be  accepted  as  true,  theoretically  and  practically, 
that  the  generally  received  doctrine  that  a  rubble  stone  bottom 
is  necessary  as  a  foundation  is  an  error,  and  when  it  is  admitted 
that  it  more  than  doubles  the  cost  of  a  standard  macadam  road, 
and  seriously  accelerates  the  wear  and  disruption  of  it,  there 
remains  no  apology  for  its  adoption. 

MAINTENANCE. 

We  suppose  that  the  macadam  road  has  been  adopted  and 
finished  and  worn  to  a  smooth  surface.  Its  maintenance  is  easy, 
simple  and  of  trifling  expense. 

The  best  plan  is  to  deposit,  during  construction,  a  twelve 
months'  supply  of  gravel  or  broken  stone  at  convenient  points 
along  the  road,  about  1000  feet  apart.  After  every  heavy  rain- 
send  a  gravel  wagon  with  about  five  men,  and  have  the  sinks  or 
ruts  filled  up  and  ditches  reopened  and  culverts  opened,  if  closed 
or  gorged,  and  such  other  amendations  made  as  circumstances 
may  require. 

I  have  found  that  on  macadam  roads  properly  constructed 
the  cost  of  maintenance  is  less  than  I  per  cent,  of  the  original 
cost  per  annum.  All  this  is  under  the  supposition  that  the  sys- 
tem remains  under  the  supervision  of  a  competent  engineer  or 
road  supervisor,  who  gives  it  proper  attention. 

It  is  important  to  protect  earth  embankments  from  wash- 
ing. This  may  be  done  cheaply  and  permanently  by  sodding  to 
quick  growing,  heavy  sodding  grass  at  the  proper  season  for 
sowing.  Effectual  regulation  by  law  of  the  tread  or  width  of 
wagon  tires  in  their  relation  to  maximum  loads  is  a  measure 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  199 

second  in  importance  to  nothing  for  cheapening  construction 
and  reducing  the  cost  of  maintenance. 

A  rule  may  be  safely  adopted  which  would  insure  public 
roads  against  the  main  destroying  agency  to  which  they  are 
subjected,  to  wit  :  heavy  loads  on  narrow  tires.  The  limit  of 
loads  should  be  400  pounds  to  the  inch  width  of  tire,  and  when 
loads  must  be  so  exceptionally  great,  say  over  10,000  pounds, 
they  should  be  drawn  on  rollers  of  proper  tread. 

Wagons  emerging  from  mud  roads  bring  upon  their  wheels 
a  large  quantity  of  stiff  mud,  which,  falling  upon  gravel  roads, 
is  again  lifted  upon  wheels  passing  over  it,  and,  being  pressed 
on  to  the  gravel  surface,  it  brings  with  it,  by  degrees,  coatings 
of  fine  gravel,  making  thus  holes  in  the  surface,  and  these, 
stripped  of  the  hard,  smooth  surface,  deepen  rapidly  by  the 
repeated  process. 

A  perfect  system  of  roads  would  provide  against  direct 
wagon  communication  between  mud  and  improved  roads,  either 
by  throwing  out  lateral  connections  with  them  of,  say  500  feet 
length,  of  rough  rubble  road,  or  by  embracing  in  the  system 
designed  every  road  within  it. 

If  mud  roads  could  be  abolished,  the  macadam  road  would 
meet  every  requirement  of  a  first-class  road  for  any  purpose, 
save  that  alone  of  the  heaviest  city  travel. 

It  is  not  necessary  nor  advisable  to  attempt  to  maintain  by 
constant  thin  deposits  of  new  material  the  original  form  and 
depth  of  road  surface,  for  such  thin  deposits  are  soon  ground 
into  powder  and  blown  away.  But  the  plan  of  maintenance 
should  be  first  to  fill  ruts  and  sinks  as  they  appear,  filling  full 
and  a  little  above  the  general  surface — this  to  be  kept  up  from 
year  to  year  until  the  general  surface  has  worn  so  thin  as  to 
show  the  thickness  by  occasional  disruption  of  the  bond.  When 
this  occurs,  the  original  surface  and  depth  should  be  restored 
fully  by  a  new  distribution  of  material  over  the  whole  road. 
How  often  this  treatment  will  be  required  will  depend  upon 
the  wearing  quality  of  material  and  the  amount  and  character 


2oo  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

of  travel.  On  roads  constructed  six  years  ago,  under  my  super- 
vision, part  of  broken  limestone  and  part  of  gravel,  I  cannot 
observe  any  appreciable  depth  of  wear  or  other  indication  of 
failure. 

DRAINAGE. 

All  the  foregoing  applies  to  roads  South  of  Latitude  38°, 
where  frost  upheavals  do  not  break  up  the  superstructure.  In 
colder  regions  provisions  against  disruption  by  frost  should  be 
made  as  follows : 

In  advance  of  the  work  of  spreading  and  forming  the 
superstructure,  form  sub-drains  as  follows  : 

At  intervals  of  five  feet  cut  trenches  across  the  earth 
grade,  at  right  angles  to  its  crown,  eighteen  inches  wide  at  the 
top,  six  inches  wide  at  the  bottom  and  eight  inches  deep. 
Fill  these  full  to  the  grade  surface  with  coarse  gravel  or  broken 
stone ;  then  follow,  before  travel  is  resumed,  with  the  gravel  or 
broken  stone  superstructure,  as  hereinbefore  explained. 

The  gravel  or  broken-stone  road,  as  above  described,  may 
be  considered  standard  for  country  roads,  and  the  cost  of  these 
should  mark  the  limit  of  expenditure  out  of  the  general  tax 
fund  for  country  roads. 

But  country  roads  often  pass  through  populous  suburbs  of 
large  cities  and  form  connections  with  municipal  systems 
embracing  heavy  traffic  roads,  pleasure  drives,  residence  roads, 
etc.,  in  appropriate  variety.  These  often  extend  beyond  the 
city  limits,  and  must  be  constructed  in  unbroken  harmony, 
system  with  system. 

Reserving  that  the  limit  of  expenditure  of  the  county  fund 
would  be  the  cost  of  the  standard  country  road,  larger  expendi- 
ture may  occur  near  cities  from  funds  voluntarily  contributed, 
and  thus  it  will  often  become  necessary  to  vary  modes  of  con- 
struction in  such  localities. 

Municipal  engineering,  as  applied  especially  to  city  pave- 
ments, is  an  interesting  subject,  but  as  I  understand  the  cir- 
cular of  the  University  Committee,  it  is  not  embraced  in  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  201 

subject  they  intend  to  discuss.  Still,  inasmuch  as  the  suburban 
extensions  of  city  roads  are  often  parts  of  a  county  system,  it 
would  be  proper  to  indicate  in  this  discussion  their  relative 
adaptability  to  the  variable  requirements  as  such  extensions. 

It  is  supposed  that  these  suburban  extensions  will  embrace 
heavy  traffic,  light  traffic,  pleasure  and  neighborhood  or  resi- 
dence roads. 

I  will  be  content  to  add  some  general  suggestions  and 
indicate  in  tabulated  form  their  order  of  excellence  for  the 
respective  objects,  as  follows  : 

Heavy  Traffic  Road  : 

1.  Block  Granite  on  Concrete  Foundation. 

2.  Block  Granite  on  Gravel  Foundation. 

3.  Vitrified  Brick  on  Concrete  Foundation. 

4.  Rubble  Stone  on  Gravel  Foundation. 

Light  Traffic : 

1.  Vitrified  Brick  on  Concrete. 

2.  Block  Limestone  on  Concrete  or  Gravel. 

3.  Block  Wood  on  Plank. 

4.  Gravel  or  Fine  Broken  Stone  on  Natural  Surface. 

Pleasure  Roads : 

1.  Asphalt  on  Concrete  Foundation. 

2.  Vitrified  Brick  on  Concrete  Foundation. 

3.  Block  Wood  on  Plank. 

4.  Gravel  or  Fine  Broken  Stone  on  Natural  Surface. 

Neighborhood  or  Residence : 

i.  Gravel  or  Fine  Broken  Stone  on  Natural  Earth  Surface. 

When  I  use  the  term  Gravel  it  applies  also  to  fine  broken 
stone,  except  in  cases  in  which  a  distinction  is  otherwise 
indicated. 

GENERAL  SUGGESTIONS. 

The  main  desiderata  in  road  or  pavement  construction  are : 
First. — A  smooth  surface,  forming  a  safe  footing  for  teams 
and  an  unyielding  bearing  for  heavily  loaded  wheels. 


202  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Second. — An  enduring  material,  both  superficial  and  funda 
mental.  The  main  problem  is  how  to  construct  and  maintain  a 
smooth  surface. 

The  forces  that  conspire  to  wear  and  disrupt  the  surface 
are  compound — that  is,  dynamic  and  static — being  mainly  the 
impact  of  wheels  running  under  heavy  loads. 

These  two  elements,  weight  and  impact,  or  weight  impelled, 
to  be  specifically  provided  against  by  appropriate  provisions. 

The  prevailing  theory  with  regard  to  foundations  for  street 
pavements  is  precisely  that  which  applies  to  foundations  for 
ponderous  buildings,  and  herein  may  be  found  the  source  of 
much  error  and  enormous  waste  of  money. 

This  theory  rests  upon  the  idea  that  the  important  element 
in  every  foundation  is  to  resist  and  arrest  gravitation  downward 
in  heavy  structures  of  stone,  brick  or  iron,  whereas  the  simple 
requirement  as  applied  to  pavements  is  a  foundation  which  shall 
have  sufficient  stability  to  bear  so  much  of  the  superimposed 
weight  as  the  superstructure  itself  cannot  bear,  and  shall  be  of 
such  material  or  hardness  that  the  blocks  or  other  form  of  mate- 
rial comprising  the  superstructure  shall  not  cut  into  or  pene- 
trate it. 

Theoretically,  any  properly  constructed  pavement  forms, 
independently  of  the  material  under  it,  an  immovable  arch  which 
cannot  sink  unless  disrupted  by  forces  so  violent  as  to  crush  its 
component  parts  by  force  of  impact  or  gravity,  so  that  when  we 
observe  disruption  or  sinking  we  will  find  that  the  arch  is  de- 
fective at  that  point,  and  the  footing  on  which  the  sunken  blocks 
rest  is  a  material  soft  and  easily  penetrated.  These  are  the 
defects  or  weaknesses  principally  to  be  provided  for. 

But  these  defects  in  the  arch  cannot  be  prevented  within 
any  reasonable  limits  as  to  cost,  for  to  construct  a  perfect  arch 
of  stone  requires  perfect  blocks,  absolutely  true  and  compact, 
cut  to  the  line  of  radii  from  a  centre. 

So  the  next  device  is  to  provide  against  a  defective  arch. 
Now,  obviously  this  device  would  not  be  to  construct  a  deep 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE  203 

foundation  of  absolute  statical  immobility,  but  only  to  provide  a 
material  to  receive  the  thrust  of  a  single  block  driven  by  force 
below  its  original  surface  level,  and  penetrating  into  a  substra- 
tum not  hard  and  strong  enough  to  arrest  it.  No  depth  of  foun- 
dation can  avail  to  keep  the  superstructure  immovable  if  any 
block  comprising  it  can  be  forced  into  the  surface  of  the  founda- 
tion, nor,  indeed,  will  any  depth  of  foundation  lessen  the  force  of 
gravitation,  but  rather  will  increase  it  by  the  measure  of  its  own 
weight  down  to  the  point  of  absolute  stability. 

Practically,  the  point  of  best  stability  is  generally  very  near 
the  surface,  just  below  the  alluvial  deposit. 

Grave  errors  prevail  as  to  the  force  and  weight  upon  foun- 
dations of  superimposed  pavements  with  their  loads  added. 

Supposing  that  the  superstructure  be  in  simplest  form, 
to  wit,  a  bed  of  gravel,  worn  to  a  smooth  surface  and  compacted 
through  and  through  in  a  state  of  final  repose,  even  such  a 
structure  would  bear  the  weight  of  wagons  of  5000  Ibs.  weight 
on  four-inch  tires,  and  no  greater  proportion  of  this  load  will 
reach  the  foundation  than  would  if  the  road  bed  were  a  solid 
iron  bridge  over  it,  for  in  practice  the  surface  does  not  sink  to 
any  visible  or  measurable  extent,  and  therefore  is  lost  in  the 
mass  and  practically  only  increases  the  weight  of  the  mass,  itself 
self-sustaining. 

As  stated  hereinbefore,  it  is  not  true  that  a  superimposed 
weight  is  transmitted  in  the  line  of  a  cone  to  the  foundation,  if 
the  mediums  through  which  it  is  transmitted  have  any  resistive 
power,  and  in  all  cases  in  which  the  weight  is  not  sufficient  to 
break  through  the  intermediate  medium,  it  reaches  the  founda- 
tion only  as  a  weight  acting  upon  a  solid  surface,  and  is  distrib- 
uted over  a  foundation  as  hard  as  the  immovable  surface  may  be. 
So  the  problem  largely  involves  two  things  : 

1st.  A  superstructure  that  will  stand  under  pressure  and 
impact  of  passing  loads. 

2d.    A  foundation  that  will  arrest  the  downward  thrust  of 


204  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

defective  parts  of  the  superstructure,  the  force  to  be  arrested 
being,  not  gravitation,  but  the  impact  and  resultant  of  passing 
loads  like  that  of  a  pile  driven  by  a  pile  hammer. 

The  principle  involved  is  illustrated  in  the  ordinary  mode  of 
securing  superficial  stability  of  block  wood  pavement,  which  is 
often  laid  upon  a  subsurface  of  plank — two  inches  in  thickness 
— and  laid  evenly  upon  a  smooth  earth  surface  below. 

In  this  case  and  in  that  of  block  stone,  the  vertical  weight 
is  the  same,  while  the  impact  is  less  on  the  wooden  block,  for 
the  reason  that  the  wood  surface  is  generally  more  nearly  per- 
fect. 

Since  it  is  demonstrated  that  a  double  layer  of  inch  plank 
well  laid  on  an  earth  surface  will,  while  it  remains  sound,  arrest 
the  downward  thrust  on  the  surface  of  block  wooden  pavement 
of  the  heaviest  wagon  loads ;  and  while  it  is  also  demonstrated 
that  a  simple  compacted  bed  of  gravel  of  four  inches  thickness 
will  not  sink  or  disrupt  under  similar  loads,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  a  layer  of  either  material,  plank  or  gravel,  of  the  thickness 
and  consistency  of  each  will  form  a  reliable  foundation  for  block 
granite  or  limestone  with  a  large  margin  of  safety,  for  in  the 
case  of  granite  used  as  a  foundation  bed  for  block  stone,  the 
weight  or  force  that  will  not  break  its  surface  even  when  trans- 
mitted from  a  mere  line  tangent  to  the  tire  of  a  wheel,  cannot 
impose  upon  it  so  severe  a  strain  when  transmitted  through  a 
block  wedged  into  a  continuous  structure,  and  having  at  its  sur- 
face contact  with  the  foundation  bed  a  distributing  area  largely 
in  excess  of  the  tangential  line  of  the  wheel. 

Brick  and  asphalt  make  the  smoothest  surface  and  best 
footing  for  teams,  but  what  is  the  value  of  these  elements  ? 

It  must  be  admitted  that  they  are  of  very  great  value. 

The  wearing  and  disruption  of  surfaces  are  largely  due  to 
violent  impact  of  moving  wheels,  moving  rapidly  under  heavy 
loads. 

So  when  a  wagon  passes  over  a  rough  surface  the  dynamic 
force,  i.  e.>  the  impact  of  wheels,  is  at  its  maximum,  but  when 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  205 

passing  over  a  smooth  surface  it  is  at  its  minimum,  and  so  greatly 
is  this  most  destructive  agency — the  impact  force — reduced,  that 
there  remains  but  the  force  of  gravitation,  the  statical,  which  of 
itself  cannot  abrade  the  surface,  and  if  properly  distributed 
passes  into  the  foundation  with  no  effect  whatever  on  the  surface. 

This  theory  has  been  verified  in  my  city,  in  which  there  are 
two  model  pavements  both  founded  on  concrete  of  same  composi- 
tion and  depth.  Upon  one  is  laid  a  crown  of  block  granite ; 
upon  the  other,  one  course  of  vitrified  brick,  both  in  use  the 
same  time  and  under  about  equal  travel.  The  result  is  that  the 
brick  keeps  a  perfect  surface  and  no  sign  of  abrasion  can  be 
found,  while  granite  has  lost  original  surface  at  many  points  and 
never  did  compare  with  the  brick  in  superficial  smoothness. 

Applying  these  principles,  a  natural  and  effective  mode  of 
construction  within  such  limitations  as  are  general  in  matters 
of  material,  location  and  cost,  would  be  about  the  following — 
in  which  it  is  assumed  that  the  true  structure  is  that  underlying 
natural  material  upon  which  the  whole  construction  rests,  and 
that  this  will  be  earth  or  clay.  ' 

Building  then  necessarily  upon  a  foundation  of  earth  Or  clay 
and  starting  at  its  depth  of  greatest  solidity,  which  is  generally 
near  the  surface,  the  foundation  dependence  for  statical  immova- 
bility is  an  earth  base,  whatever  the  superstructure  may  be. 
Resting  upon  this  earth  surface  there  should  be  a  firmer 
material  of  greater  hardness  and  stronger  coherence,  which  will 
serve  to  distribute  superimposed  weight  and  resist  dynamic 
force  from  above.  This  is  usually  called  the  foundation.  This 
would  be  accomplished  effectually  and  very  simply  by  a  layer 
of  plank  two  inches  in  thickness,  as  when  used  as  a  bearing 
for  block  wooden  pavement. 

But  perishable  material,  such  as  wooden  plank,  is  not  to  be 
considered  in  this  problem,  but  the  illustration  indicates  that 
any  material  and  construction  that  will  act  in  the  same  way,  to 
wit :  distributing  and  arresting  weight  and  impact,  is  the  desider- 
atum as  a  foundation  resting  on  earth  or  clay. 


206        .  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Any  compacted  and  homogeneous  mass  strong  enough  to 
receive  and  distribute  the  superimposed  weight  without  crush- 
ing  and  breaking  its  bond,  and  hard  enough  to  resist  the  impact 
or  cutting  force  from  above,  will,  just  as  plank  will,  form  an 
immovable  surface  for  the  structure  built  upon  it. 

While  it  is  practicable  to  strengthen  an  earth  foundation 
by  piling  driven  vertically,  it  is  not  necessary  to  consider  any 
such  device,  save  in  exceptional  cases,  such  as  occur  in  swampy 
material — soft  or  approaching  the  fluid  state.  Generally,  the 
natural  earth  surface  is  to  be  adopted  as  the  bed  of  the  super- 
structure. 

Proceeding,  then,  to  construction  upon  a  base  of  such 
material,  I  would  suggest  the  following : 

First. — Grade  the  earth  bed  to  a  smooth  surface,  with  a 
crown  at  the  centre  corresponding  exactly  with  that  intended 
for  the  upper  surface  of  the  finished  pavement.  This  sub- 
crown  is  important  as  forming  a  natural  line  of  drainage  out- 
wardly from  the  centre  toward  the  ditches. 

Second. — Exclude  from  the  earth  foundation  all  foreign 
substances,  such  as  old  brick,  wood,  etc.,  to  the  end  that  the 
material  relied  on  for  foundation  may  be  absolutely  homoge- 
neous, so  that  if  there  be  any  settling  under  superimposed 
weight,  it  shall  be  uniform  and  not  affect  the  integrity  of  the 
upper  plane. 

Third. — After  rolling  the  earth's  surface  with  a  light  roller 
of  about  four  thousand  pounds  weight,  until  it  shall  have  a 
uniformly  compacted  crust,  spread  upon  it,  when  dry,  a  layer 
of  coarse  gravel,  and  roll  to  two  inches  in  depth,  this  being 
intended  for  subdrainage. 

Fourth. — Spread  over  this,  in  sections  of  one  square  in 
length  at  one  spreading,  a  layer  of  gravel  containing  a  slight 
admixture  of  sand  or  fine  clay,  which,  after  being  rolled  with  a 
roller  of  eight  thousand  pounds  weight,  shall  have  a  compacted 
depth  over  the  sub-layer  of  coarse  gravel  of  four  inches. 

Fifth. — Or  if  considerations  of  relative  cost  are  ignored,  a 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  207 

monolithic  course  of  concrete  of  four  inches  depth  on  the  sub- 
course  of  coarse  gravel  would  be  better,  as  being  a  better 
Medium  for  distribution  of  superincumbent  weight,  and  more 
nearly  water  tight  than  compacted  gravel.  This  also  should  be 
laid  in  large  sections  and  covered  over  with  a  thin  layer  of 
sharp  sand  as  a  cushion-bearing  for  hard  blocks.  The  concrete 
course  should  not  be  rolled. 

Sixth. — Upon  this  foundation  build  the  surface  course  as 
follows  : 

Supposing  it  to  be  block  stone,  it  should  be  of  uniform 
dimensions  in  width  and  depth,  and  with  a  depth  not  less  than 
six  inches.  The  width  and  length  should  be  largely  in  excess 
of  what  is  ordinary,  but  should  not  exceed  12  by  20  inches.  If 
there  be  irregularities  in  the  dimensions,  this  is  only  allowable 
jti  widths  and  lengths,  but  never  in  vertical  depth. 

In  case  of  irregularities  in  dimension,  care  should  be  taken 
to  assort  the  blocks  by  respective  dimensions,  laying  th<*™  in 
sections  to  themselves,  so  that  the  general  surface  shall  be  pre- 
served, and  not  broken  here  and  there,  as  often  occurs  when  a 
single  block  is  driven  below  the  level  of  its  broader  neighbors. 

Seventh. — When  a  section  has  been  laid,  every  single  block 
should  be  driven  to  a  bearing  with  the  heaviest  hand  mauls 
available. 

Eighth. — This  should  be  followed  with  a  coating  of  sharp 
sand,  swept  into  joints  and  sifted  down,  filling  up  interstices. 

Ninth. — The  entire  surface  should  be  rolled,  alternating 
from  gutters  to  centre  and  from  centre  to  gutters,  beginning  at 
slow_  speed,  and,  by  slow  degrees,  increasing  to  the  highest 
speed  attainable,  until  the  entire  surface  has  attained  the 
utmost  stability  possible  under  such  treatment. 

Tenth. — After  rolling,  the  whole  surface  should  be  treated 
with  a  coating  of  coal  tar  or  pine  pitch  heated  to  boiling  point 
and  poured  in  liquid  state,  filling  joints  even  up  to  the  surface. 
It  would  be  an  improvement  upon  the  existing  plan  to  lay  the 
blocks  to  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees  to  the  curbing,  and 


208  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

increase  their  surface  dimension,  while  a  matter  of  utmost 
importance  is  to  have  them  of  uniform  depth,  the  bottom  and 
top  planes  being  parallel,  so  as  to  avoid  tilting  and  consequent 
break  of  bond,  etc. 

While  I  recommend  a  roller  not  exceeding  8000  pounds 
weight  on  the  gravel  surface,  a  heavier  one  of  different  form 
should  be  used  in  rolling  the  stone  pavement  resting  on  a  gravel 
bed.  For  this  purpose  the  roller  should  be  limited  to  15,000 
pounds  weight.  This  being  so  much  under  the  usual  weight  of 
steam  rollers  requires  explanation  or  defence. 

The  usual  form  of  rollers  is  a  cylinder  of  four  to  six  feet  in 
length,  and  is  required  to  have  a  weight  largely  in  excess  of  the 
greatest  weight  that  the  heaviest  wagon  load  can  be  expected  to 
impose.  Such  being  the  basis,  the  estimate  may  be  that  wagons, 
loaded  to  12,000  pounds  on  four  wheels  of  three-inch  tires,  will 
touch  the  line  of  contact  with  a  weight  of  3000  pounds  to  a 
length  of  three  inches  of  tire,  the  equivalent  of  which  as  applied 
to  a  roller  five  feet  in  length  would  be  60,000  pounds,  total  weight 
of  roller. 

But  it  should  be  considered  that 

ist.  Such  a  weight  imposed  upon  a  freshly  laid  surface  not 
compacted  to  final  and  ultimate  stability,  will  depress  the  surface 
immediately  under  it,  forming  a  wave  in  front  which  may  break 
the  bond,  disturb  the  homogeneity  of  the  mass  and  disrupt  the 
surface  so  that  its  application  at  that  stage  is  hazardous. 

2d.  A  roller  of  much  less  weight  may  be  so  constructed  and 
so  applied  as  to  assure  the  end  in  view,  to  wit,  the  solidification 
of  the  road  bed  to  the  degree  of  immovability  required,  in  the 
mode  following : 

Let  the  roller  be  a  wagon  on  four  wheels,  each  with  a  twelve- 
inch  tire. 

Load  the  wagon  to  an  aggregate  of  15,000  pounds  weight, 
so  distributed  that  the  forward  wheels  shall  carry  a  weight  of 
6000  pounds,  the  rear  to  carry  a  weight  of  9000  pounds.  The 
lighter  weight  being  in  front  prepares  the  way  for  the  heavier 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  209 

in  the  rear,  and  thus  no  violent  change  of  surface  or  disruption 
will  occur,  while  the  rear  will  follow  in  the  same  track,  gradually 
compacting  the  surface. 

Beginning  at  the  gutters  and  finishing  at  the  centre,  then 
reversing,  ending  at  the  gutter ;  continue  rolling  at  low  speed 
as  long  as  the  wheels  make  any  perceptible  impression  on  the 
surface ;  then  increase  the  speed  gradually  and  regularly,  reach- 
ing before  finishing  the  highest  speed  attainable. 

Thus,  within  a  few  hours  the  pavement,  by  a  gradual,  safe 
and  effective  process,  having  withstood  all  the  forces  statical  and 
dynamic  to  which  it  will  ever  be  subjected,  may  be  relied  on  as 
having  attained  the  required  compactness,  smoothness  of  surface 
and  stability,  and  may  be  safely  opened  to  travel,  after  being 
treated  with  a  coating  of  coal  tar  or  pitch,  as  explained  herein. 

LEGISLATION  APPLICABLE  TO  COUNTY  ROADS. 

To  render  effectual  any  system  of  construction  and  mainte- 
nance of  public  roads,  provision  should  be  made  by  appropriate 
legislation  for  concentrated  administration,  intelligent  personal 
supervision,  fixed  personal  responsibility,  and  the  broadest 
authority  to  locate,  construct,  maintain  and  protect  the  com- 
munal property  in  such  roads. 

These  ends  require  about  the  following  : 

A  board  of  road  commissioners,  three  in  number,  in  every 
county.  They  should  meet  within  ten  days  after  their  election 
or  appointment  and  proceed  methodically  as  follows  : 

First. — Elect  a  competent  engineer  of  county  roads  and 
bridges,  who  may  be  one  of  the  board,  also  a  chairman  and 
secretary  and  treasurer,  the  latter  to  be  combined. 

Second. — The  engineer  should  be  required  to  proceed  with- 
out delay  to  prepare  an  estimate  of  the  cost  per  mile  of  grading, 
bridging  and  graveling  county  roads,  also  the  cost  of  repairing 
other  county  roads  not  to  be  graveled.  This  report  should  be 
rendered  to  an  adjourned  meeting  not  longer  than  thirty  days 
later. 


2io  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Third, — Upon  the  data  furnished  by  the  engineer's  report 
the  rate  of  road  tax  should  be  fixed  and  the  work  of  the  year 
determined. 

Authority  to  levy  such  tax  might  be  conferred  on  the 
county  court,  or  in  some  States  on  the  board  of  road  commis- 
sioners. 

The  salaries  of  commissioners  may  be  fixed  by  the  county 
court,  and  that  of  the  engineer  by  the  commissioners. 

Each  commissioner  should  be  required  to  give  proper  bond 
and  to  subscribe  to  an  oath  of  office,  embracing  prominently 
that  he  has  not  influenced  or  attempted  to  influence  his  own 
election  by  any  promise  to  do  or  not  to  do  anything  for  any 
person  whatever  or  any  section,  entering  upon  his  term  per- 
fectly free  and  untrammeled  to  do  his  duty  to  the  public  with- 
out fear  or  favor. 

The  engineer  of  roads  and  bridges  should  have  authority 
to  amend  or  change  locations,  establish  grades,  alignment  of 
roads,  condemn  material  for  construction,  such  as  earth,  timber, 
stone  or  gravel,  under  proper  restrictions  and  provisions  for 
compensation  to  owners.  He  should  have  police  powers  to 
arrest  and  report  violators  of  road  laws,  to  appoint  deputies,  and 
exercise  all  other  legal  powers  conferred  on  him  by  the  board. 

The  width  of  wagon  tire  should  be  regulated  by  law  so  that 
there  shall  be  a  width  of  one  inch  to  every  400  pounds  on  a  sin- 
gle wheel,  and  this  proportionally  to  maximum  loads. 

Road  commissioners  should,  when  they  demand,  have  the 
free  use  of  county  convicts  in  any  work  undertaken  by  them. 

State  convicts  should  be  apportioned  for  road  building  to 
the  several  counties,  upon  demand,  under  such  regulations  as 
may  be  necessary  to  insure  safe  custody  and  proper  treatment. 

These  important  features  should  be  a  part  of  the  general 
road  law  of  every  State  in  which  they  apply. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


HONORABLE  MENTION.     PAPER  No.  42?. 


FRANK  CAWLEY,  B.  S., 

Instructor  in  Civil  Engineering,  Swarthmore  College, 
Swarthmore,  Pa. 


THE  object  of  this  essay  is  not  to  deal  with  those  streets 
or  roads  which  lie  within  the  limits  of  incorporated  cities  or 
towns,  but  rather  with  those  through  less  densely  populated 
districts,  where  the  principal  industries  are  agricultural  and  the 
principal  taxpayers  farmers.  Neither  is  .it  my  purpose  to  go 
into  an  elaborate  discussion  of  how  special  roads  should  be 
constructed ;  such  matters  are  amply  provided  for  by  writers 
like  Messrs.  Gillmore,  Gillespie,  Parnell,  Morris  and  a  .host  of 
others  whose  conclusions  are  open  to  the  public.  What  I  do 
propose  to  show,  however,  is  that  a  system  of  road  manage- 
ment may  be  devised  by  which,  in  a  limited  number  of  years, 
at  the  same  annual  cost  for  road  purposes  which  we  now 
expend,  perfect  traveling  facilities  may  be  enjoyed  all  over  any 
country  which  will  adopt  such  system.  This,  and  more,  I  think, 
I  can  establish  as  true  and  practicable  beyond  the  slightest 
doubt,  and  should  the  ideas  here  brought  forth  prove  of  value, 
the  writer  will  feel  amply  repaid  for  his  labors  in  perfecting 
them.  With  these  few  introductory  remarks,  the  writer  sub- 
mits the  following  essay  to  the  Board  of  Adjudicators,  and,  if 
it  should  be  so  successful,  to  the  public  at  large. 

In  the  rural  and  suburban  districts  our  roads  are  usually  in 
various  states  of  impassability  from  December  to  April  inclu- 
sive. In  order  to  remedy  this  condition  we  must  first  inquire 
into  the  working  of  township  affairs  in  these  districts 

(211)    • 


212  RV\A.J  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

TOWNSHIP    ORGANIZATION. 

We  find  that  each  year  a  supervisor,  overseer  or  road- 
master,  as  he  is  variously  termed,  is  elected  by  township  vote, 
to  superintend  all  work  on  the  roads  of  his  township.  He  is  paid 
for  his  services,  under  the  Pennsylvania  law,  at  the  rate  of  one 
and  a-half  dollars  per  day,  and  to  raise  the  money  for  him, 
and  to  pay  for  the  labor  and  material  used  by  him,  he  is  allowed 
to  levy  a  tax  on  all  property  within  the  township  limits  at  its 
assessed  value,  the  rate  of  the  tax  being  fixed  by  him  and  usu- 
ally running  from  two  to  ten  mills  per  dollar.  This  tax  is  called 
the  road  tax,  and  in  Pennsylvania  is  collected  by  the  supervisor 
himself. 

After  the  supervisor  has  been  duly  elected  and  sworn  in, 
he  is  free  to  spend  the  appropriation  as  he  deems  to  the  best 
advantage  of  the  community,  theoretically ;  to  himself  and 
friends,  practically. 

When  he  decides  upon  improving  any  special  piece  of  road, 
he  calls  his  friends  and  neighbors  to  assist  him,  and  pays  them, 
by  remissions  of  tax,  at  the  rate  of  one  and  a  half  dollars  per 
day  of  labor  and  three  dollars  per  day  for  a  team.1 

These  rates  are  uniform,  or  nearly  so,  throughout  Eastern 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey. 

In  this  way  of  selecting  laborers  very  many  hands  are  em- 
ployed at  the  above  rate  who  cannot  move  as  much  earth  in  a 
whole  day  as  an  average  laborer  on  a  railroad  or  other  contract 
work  will  move  in  two  or  three  hours,  and  the  latter  class  of 
laborers  do  not,  as  a  rule,  receive  above  one  and  a  quarter  dol- 
lars per  day  for  their  work. 

Within  the  past  two  weeks,  in  a  township  not  very  far  out- 
side the  limits  of  Philadelphia  County,  three  hands  were  ob- 
served mending  the  road.  One  was  an  old  man  of  perhaps  75, 
another  a  man  with  one  hand  only,  while  the  third  was  a  boy. 

My  informant  does  not  state  whether  or  not  the  supervisor 

1  Two  horses,  driver  and  wagon,  carts,  plows,  etc. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.      •  213 

was  sitting  on  a  rock  directing  the  work  at  a  rate  of  a  dollar 
and  a  half  a  day ;  but  it  is  assumed  that  the  three  workers  seen 
each  received  that  amount,  while  the  supervisor  is  pretty  certain 
not  to  be  left  in  the  lurch. 

METHODS    IN    VOGUE. 

I  find  that  the  repairs  usually  made  upon  the  road  consist 
in  plowing  up  the  sides  or  gutters  and  throwing  the  earth  or 
material  thus  loosened  into  the  centre  of  the  road,  in  order  to 
give  the  road  the  necessary  pitch  or  camber. 

Of  this  method  Gillmore  writes  as  follows  :  "  A  pernicious 
custom  prevails  throughout  a  large  portion  of  the  United 
States,  of  repairing  country  roads  only  at  certain  seasons  of 
the  year.  The  cost  of  maintenance  would  be  greatly  reduced 
by  frequent  repairs,  and  especially  by  keeping  the  side  ditches 
open  to  their  full  width  and  •  depth,  by  promptly  filling  the  ruts 
and  jby  maintaining  the  required  slopes  from  the  centre  to  the 
sides.  It  will  seldom  be  found  that  the  material  obtained  by 
cleaning  out  side  ditches  is  fit  to  put  upon  the  roadway." 

The  material  thus  obtained  is  usually  composed  of  soil, 
sand  and  decaying  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  and,  as  above 
stated,  is  utterly  unfit  for  road  purposes. 

Another  favorite  recipe  for  road  cure  is  to  cart  stones  and 
dump  them  into  a  mud  hole,  with  a  view  toward  filling  it.  No 
effort  is  made,  however,  to  drain  the  place,  and  the  stones  are 
soon  buried  beneath  the  mud  and  lost.  To  add  to  the  confu- 
sion thus  formed  in  the  road  management,  there  appears  to  be 
no  unanimity  of  action  on  the  part  of  supervisors.  One  year 
the  supervisor  for  that  term  will  plan  out  some  perhaps  valuable 
work,  which  he  will  start  in  a  creditable  manner.  The  next 
supervisor,  deeming  the  expenditure  of  the  taxes  more  desirable 
near  his  own  home,  does  not  continue  on  the  foundation  formed 
by  the  previous  man,  but  leaves  it  to  accomplish  its  own  de- 
struction, or  aids  said  destruction  by  throwing  gutter  mud  on  it. 


214  ROAD  MAKING  ANT^  MAINTENANCE. 

These  are  the  customary  methods  of  carrying  on  the  road 
affairs  in  our  townships,  and  they  are  as  old  as  any  ethers  oi 
our  time-honored  customs.  In  their  youth,  perhaps,  they  were 
all  that  could  be  desired,  but  one  thing  is  certain,  they  fail 
utterly  to  fulfill  their  object  to-day.  To  entrust  the  average 
supervisor  with  the  superintendence  of  road  repair  is  a  gross 
mistake,  and  the  custom  of  empowering  him  to  expend  as  he 
sees  fit  moneys  which  he  raises  from  the  taxpayers  in  amounts 
to  suit  his  purposes  is  a  crying  evil.  What  supervisor  is  com- 
petent, with  his  limited  knowledge  of  the  scientific  treatment 
of  road  business,  to  expend  judiciously  the  large  amount  of 
$16,000  annually  on  the  roads  of  his  township,  yet  an  instance 
in  which  a  supervisor  does  spend  that  amount,  not  five  miles 
from  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  exists. 

SUGGESTED    REMEDIES. 

Methods  have  already  been  suggested  by  which  it  is  claimed 
that  the  above  evils  may  be  remedied.  Some  suggest  legisla- 
tion by  which  State  aid  may  be  obtained,  such  measures  usually 
arranging  for  the  State  to  pay  from  one- third  to  two-thirds  the 
expense  of  all  permanent  improvements.  Some  suggest  bond- 
ing the  township  to  as  high  as  7  per  cent,  of  its  assessed  valua- 
tion, if  necessary,  and,  with  the  money  thus  raised,  to  place  the 
roads  in  first-class  condition — their  claim  being  that  this  can  be 
done  without  increasing  the  tax  rate,  the  present  rate  being 
sufficient  to^  provide  for  the  interest  on  bonded  debt,  road  repair 
and  sinking  fund  maintenance.  Some  suggest  raising  the  tax 
enough  to  put  and  keep  the  roads  in  good  condition,  while  still 
others  clamor  for  a  board  of  six  supervisors  instead  of  one, 
similar,  in  most  respects,  to  our  school  boards. 

These  suggestions  are  all  wrong,  inasmuch  as  they  leave 
the  expenditure  of  the  money  raised  in  the  hands  of  the  same 
incompetent  persons  who  at  present  handle  it.  Would  we  be 
willing  to  entrust  the  medical  work  of  our  townships  to  farmers 
elected  each  year  ?  Or  would  we  be  willing  to  entrust  the  agri- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  215 

culture  of  our  county  farm  to  a  physician  or  a  preacher  elected 
in  the  same  manner  ?  Either  would  be  equally  capable  of  doing 
the  work  for  which  he  was  elected  as  is  the  average  supervisor. 

In  order  to  spend  money  to  advantage,  a  man  must  be  thor- 
oughly educated  in  the  work  or  interests  in  which  he  is  spend- 
ing it,  and  he  must  be  able  to  do  things  from  a  scientific  basis. 
Who  of  us  who  owns  a  manufacturing  interest  would  be  willing 
to  appoint  a  farmer  as  superintendent  of  our  works  until  he  had 
thoroughly  mastered  the  business  ?  The  supervisor  is  not  so 
much  at  fault  as  he  is  generally  accused  of  being.  He  does  the 
best  he  can  ;  he  has  a  hard  task  to  perform,  and  knows  but 
poorly  how  to  set  about  it  in  the  right  manner. 

In  regard  to  the  suggestions  above  mentioned,  aside  from 
the  objections  of  the  supervisor  rule,  which  still  exists  under 
them,  each  is  subject  to  objections  which,  to  my  mind,  bars 
it  out  from  practical  use. 

State  aid,  after  it  is  obtained,  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
taxation,  and  is  paid  by  the  people,  and  unless  the  said  aid  is  dis- 
tributed to  all  townships  of  the  State  in  proportion  to  their  tax- 
able value,  some  will  have  to  pay  for  improvements  which  are 
many  miles  distant  from  them.  When,  in  a  township,  a  man  has 
to  pay  for  improvements  to  a  remote  road,  while  his  own  goes 
unimproved,  he  always  finds  fault.  Yet  just  such  men  advocate 
State  aid,  which  is  the  same  thing. 

Bonding  the  townships  seems  to  me  to  have  three  serious 
objections.  The  money  spent  as  interest  does  the  road  no  good. 
The  money  raised,  if  spent  by  the  average  supervisor,  will  do  it 
no  more  good.  And,  lastly,  the  non-necessity  of  such  a  measure. 
Why  should  a  township  become  debtor  to  anyone  when  it  has 
the  means  to  do  its  work  itself,  and  that  it  has  the  means  I  will 
show  in  a  succeeding  paragraph. 

Increasing  the  taxes  can  only  enable  the  supervisors  to  do 
more  work  of  no  moment,  and  will  practically  drive  such  farmers 
as  have  to  pay  rent  or  interest  on  mortages  out  of  the  business 
and  into  a  poorhouse.  A  farmer  cannot  afford  to  pay  any 


216  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

higher  tax  than  he  at  present  pays.  Not  one  farm  in  twenty 
pays  the  man  who  tills  it  half  as  much  as  it  pays  the  man 
who  holds  the  6  per  cent,  mortgage  on  it.  No  business  of  which 
I  know  is  so  poorly  remunerative  as  farming.  A  bad  year,  heavy 
taxes,  mortgage — and  the  farmer's  doom  is  sealed.  The  majority 
of  farmers  would  prefer  to  work  on  the  road  at  seventy-five 
cents  a  day  rather  than  hire  a  man  -at  double  the  amount  to  do 
it.  And  if  the  rate  was  lowered  from  one  dollar  and  a  half  to 
seventy-five  cents,  there  would  still  be  enough  help  to  spend  the 
yearly  appropriations,  and  double  the  work  now  done  could  be 
accomplished — the  only  change  necessary  being  the  proper 
application  of  the  energy  thus  made  available. 

The  matter  of  having  the  responsibility  of  supervisorship 
vested  in  six  men  instead  of  one  is  but  little  better  than  the 
present  method.  No  two  of  the  six  could  be  made  to  think 
alike,  as  is  too  often  the  case  in  school  boards.  And  no  one  of 
them  bids  fair  to  know  more  about  scientific  road  making  than 
does  the  present  supervisor. 

We  do  not  want  State  aid,  nor  borrowed  money,  nor  in- 
creased taxation ;  neither  do  we  want  six  supervisors  in  place  of 
one.  What  we  do  want,  however,  is  an  experienced  man  in 
every  county  of  the  State  to  take  the  office  of  county  engineer. 
And  that  such  an  office  may  be  constituted,  and  the  incumbent 
be  enabled  to  perform  his  duties  to  the  best  advantage,  a  law 
should  be  enacted  permitting  any  county,  through  its  courts  or 
otherwise,  to  appoint  at  its  own  option  an  engineer,  and  do 
away  entirely  with  the  supervisor. 

This  is  better  than  requiring  the  present  supervisor  to 
be  an  experienced  engineer,  for  that  would  be  an  expensive  pro- 
ceeding; there  not  being  sufficient  work  in  one  township  to  pay 
a  professional  man's  salary  is  readily  admitted.  By  this  method 
of  making  it  optional  with  the  counties,  we  would  have  one  or 
two  counties  to  start  the  matter.  In  a  few  years,  as  I  propose 
to  make  clear,  the  roads  of  those  counties  will  be  greatly  im- 
proved, and  will  show  that  in  a  very  short  time  perfection  may 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  217 

be  expected,  and,  what  is  of  as  great  interest,  property  value 
raised  and  taxation  lowered.  And  neighboring  counties,  per- 
ceiving this  change,  will  be  quick  in  doing  the  same.  After  a 
sufficient  number  of  county  engineers  are  appointed,  then  we 
might  have  a  State  engineer,  to  whom  the  county  engineers 
could  make  reports  and  from  whom  they  could  receive  directions 
to  so  connect  their  labors  that  we  might  have  State  roads.  Other 
States  would  soon  follow  the  same  plans,  and  when  a  sufficient 
number  of  States  had  thus  joined  in  the  great  work,  a  National 
Bureau  of  Roads  could  be  established,  and  the  whole  work  sys- 
tematized and  consolidated.  So  much  for  the  scheme  of  county 
engineers  in  general. 

SKETCH  OF  THE  ENGINEER'S  DUTIES. 

He  should  be  as  much  the  authority  on  all  matters  of  an  en- 
gineering nature  in  the  county  as  is  the  chief  engineer  of  a 
railroad  on  his  line,  and  should  either  do  or  direct  all  work  of 
this  kind  which  is  to  be  done  at  public  expense. 

Thus,  he  should  be  the  engineer  of  all  new  roads,  both  as 
regards  their  location  and  construction,  in  the  former  acting 
in  connection  with  the  road  jury. 

He  should,  at  specified  intervals,  inspect  all  roads  and  bridges 
in  the  county,  and  give  directions  for  any  repairs  which  may  be 
needed. 

In  each  township  he  should  be  empowered  to  fix  the  rate  of 
road  tax  and  should  spend  money  thus  raised  in  the  township  in 
which  it  is  thus  levied,  both  as  regards  labor  and  work,  such 
rate  being  subject  to  an  appeal  by  the  citizen's  of  the  township— 
the  appeal  to  be  decided  by  a  jury  of  disinterested  parties,  as 
should  be  all  other  appeals  which  may  arise. 

In  each  township  he  should  divide  the  road  mileage  into 
sections  of  from  three  to  seven  miles  each,  and  appoint  over 
each  section  a  man  who  lives  on  and  travels  over  that  section,  as 
a  section  boss,  as  he  would  be  called  in  railroad  work — such 
section  bosses  to  work  under  the  orders  of  the  engineer  and  to 
report  all  emergencies  to  him. 


218  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

.  To  make  opportunity  for  all  to  work  out  their  road  tax,  and 
only  the  road  tax,  and  to  give  orders  for  the  same  when  worked 
out. 

He  should  keep  accurate  accounts  of  all  work  done  either 
by  him  or  by  his  order.  Such  accounts,  where  public  moneys 
are  involved,  to  be  open  to  public  inspection  at  any  and  all 
times. 

And  such  other  requirements  as  might  at  the  time  become 
necessary  should  be  made,  it  being  difficult  to  lay  down  an 
unswerving  rule  for  the  guidance  of  these  engineers  throughout 
the  State.  For  in  the  different  localities  the  needs  and  require- 
ments are  of  different  natures.  Therefore,  it  would  be  wise  to 
lay  down  a  general  plan  as  above,  and  allow  each  county  to 
expand  upon  that  plan  as  they  found  expansion  necessary. 
When  we  come  to  reorganize  and  appoint  a  State  engineer  we 
can  gather  information  from  all  quarters  and  lay  down  more 
definite  rules  which  may  better  suit  all  cases. 

In  regard  to  the  first  of  the  above  requirements — being 
thus  made  a  very  high  officer  in  the  county — he  supplies  the 
need  for  a  leader  to  direct  the  action  of  all  subordinates. 
Instead  of  every  fellow  for  himself,  as  it  now  stands,  all  would 
follow  the  plan  of  one  thoroughly  capable  brain.  All  work  of 
any  magnitude  must  have  brains  at  the  head  of  it ;  there  must 
he  a  good  reason  for  doing  everything,  and  all  work  must  be 
advanced  from  a  scientific  basis.  An  engineer  can  do  this. 

He  should  act  in  conjunction  with  the  road  jury,  and  it  might 
be  of  advantage  that  he  be  one  of  their  number,  though  I  can 
see  objections — in  case  of  an  exception  being  taken,  for  instance, 
in  which  case  the  engineer  would  be  thrown  out  of  the  case 
entirely  when  a  new  jury  was  appointed.  Another  objection 
being  that  he  should  have  the  power  to  make  an  appeal  from 
the  decision  of  the  jury,  should  they,  in  his  opinion,  make  a  wrong 
one. 

A  very  necessary  part  of  his  duties  are  the  inspection  trips 
over  all  roads  and  bridges.  These  will  be  of  great  value,  in  that 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  219 

on  these  trips  he  will  naturally  visit  the  section  bosses  to  give 
them  his  orders  and  to  confer  with  them  in  regard  to  their 
sections. 

It  is  best  that  he  fix  the  amount  of  the  appropriation  in 
each  township,  but  it  is  also  necessary  that  some  easy  means  of 
appeal  be  furnished.  Justice  demands  that  the  money  raised  in 
one  township  be  worked  out  in  that  township,  and  also  that  the 
residents  of  that  township  receive  it  for  labor  done  by  them. 

In  regard  to  the  section  bosses,  it  seems  to  have  proved  suc- 
cessful to  the-  railroad  companies  to  employ  such  hands,  and 
from  an  instance  in  which  something  of  a  similar  nature  has 
been  tried  on  road  work,  the  writer  has  reached  the  conclusion 
that  the  section  bosses  will  make  a  valuable  part  of  the  new 
system.  They  should  be  appointed  by  the  engineer,  for  they 
will  then  be  more  apt  to  work  in  conjunction  with  him,  and 
being  situated  on  the  roads  over  .which  they  are  in  charge,  they 
will  be  working  in  their  own  interest  when  they  do  any  work 
upon  the  road.  They  should  be  the  only  parties  who  are  entitled 
to  receive  more  than  their  road  tax  assessment,  and  their  duties 
should  be  to  patch  the  road  as  often  as  a  hole  or  rut  forms,  and 
in  case  of  an  earth  or  gravel  road  scrape  it  as  often  as  necessary, 
always  under  the  instruction  of  the  engineer.  If  rain  or  any 
other  agency  makes  a  flaw  in  a  road  or  bridge,  the  section  boss 
should  immediately  report  the  same  to  the  engineer,  that  he 
may  take  measures  for  its  immediate  repair. 

*  To  afford  all  an  opportunity  to  work  out  road  tax  is  a  ques- 
tion which  cannot  be  definitely  settled  until,  under  the  new 
system,  all  of  the  permanent  improvements  have  been  made. 
At  present,  by  a  State  law,  it  is  necessary  that  such  opportunity 
be  offered,  and  the  writer  thinks  rightly  so,  but  in  some  locali- 
ties there  seems  to  be  no  necessity  for  it.  Wherever  it  is  done 
the  work  has  a  tendency  to  run  into  a  school-boy  style  of  doing 
it.  There  will  be  a  good  deal  of  bluster  and  fun,  but  the  work 
has  always  lacked  thoroughness.  For  the  first  few  years  of  the 
new  regime,  however,  there  will  be  plenty  of  work  at  which  the 


220  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

public  can  be  advantageously  employed,  and  after  that  the  ques- 
tion can  be  finally  settled.  That  it  is  right  that  the  taxpayer 
should  have  the  opportunity  to  work  out  his  road  tax,  where  pos- 
sible, on  the  road  seems  to  be  without  a  doubt,  for  if  we  will 
agree,  as  we  all  must,  that  in  a  community  in  which  there  is  some 
public  work  requiring  a  certain  number  of  days'  labor  during  the 
year  to  keep  it  in  repair,  each  member  of  the  community  owes 
the  work  his  share  of  those  days'  labor.  If  he  fails  to  perform 
this  labor,  or  sends  a  substitute,  then  he  should  pay  a  fine  or  tax 
sufficient  to  pay  someone  else  to  do  the  work  for  him.  Now,  if 
we  say  instead  of  days'  labor,  their  money  equivalent,  we  have 
the  road  tax. 

The  objection  to  such  labor  in  the  past  has  already  been 
mentioned,  but  this  objection  can,  I  think,  be  overruled  by  the 
proper  direction  of  the  work  by  the  engineer  and  his  section 
bosses. 

When  the  engineer  contemplates  any  extensive  work  in  the 
township,  he  should  advertise  for  labor  a  sufficient  time  before- 
hand, and  arrange  a  time  by  which  that  labor  shall  report,  that  it 
may  be  ready  for  work  when  the  time  for  the  work  arrives.  In 
the  advertisement  he  should  state  the  nature  of  the  work,  the 
number  of  days  which  he  proposes  to  be  at  it,  and  the  number 
of  men  and  teams  that  he  wants.  No  person  should  be  allowed 
to  draw  an  order  for  more  than  the  amount  of  his  road  tax  bill 
until  all  that  wish  have  either  worked  out  their  tax  themselves 
or  have  had  it  worked  out  by  substitutes.  In  regard  to  the  work 
of  patching,  all  patching  should  be  done  in  small  portions,  as 
flaws  occur  in  the  road's  surface,  the  object  being  not  to  allow 
the  flaw  to  grow  to  any  considerable  size.  This  requires  the 
work  of  one  man,  who  should  have  an  interest  in  the  section  of 
road,  as  does  the  section  boss.  To  do  this  work  to  the  best 
advantage,  the  boss  should  have  the  material  at  hand  and  mixed 
ready  for  use,  if  any  mixing  is  necessary,  and  let  it  only  be 
needful  for  him  to  take  a  horse  and  cart  and  patch  half  his  sec- 
tion with  one  cartload.  This  method,  I  believe,  is  employed  upon 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  221 

the  roads  in  France  in  some  such  manner  as   I  have  described 
above. 

MAINTENANCE. 

The  requisites  for  the  proper  maintenance   of  a  broken- 
stone  road  are  given  by  Gillmore  in  his  "  Roads,  Streets  and  . 
Pavements,"  to  be  as  follows  : 

First. — That  it  should  be  kept  thoroughly  clear  of  dust,  and 
therefore  clear  of  mud. 

Second. — That  thorough  drainage  should  be  maintained. 

Third. — That  minute  repairs  to  the  surface  should  be  made 
systematically  in  small  patches  as  often  as,  and  as  soon  as,  ruts 
or  depressions  begin  to  show  themselves. 

It  is  just  as  necessary  that  these  three  rules  be  enforced 
upon  a  cheap  earth  road  or  a  gravel  road  as  it  is  upon  the  best 
Telford  or  macadam  surface. 

In  regard  to  the  sweeping  of  the  dust  from  the  road  surface, 
it  will  seem  to  be  unnecessary  to  the  average  rural  taxpayer,  but 
experience  on  the  French  and  English  roads  has  proven  that  it 
is  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  surface,  the  lessening  of 
the  draught,  and  the  provision  for  the  absence  of  mud  and  dust. 
The  sweeping  may  be  done  by  a  machine,  which  need  not  cost 
more  than  a  few  hundred  dollars,  and  one  such  sweeper  might 
be  made  to  answer  for  a  whole  township.  The  sweepings 
should  be  deposited  in  the  gutter  by  the  machine,  to  be  after- 
ward gathered  up  and  used  with  the  other  gutter  dirt  in  banking 
off  the  water  from  neighboring  fields. 

Thorough  drainage  must  be  insisted  upon,  for  on  this 
depends  the  life  of  any  road.  The  bed  must  not  be  allowed  to 
become  a  pasty  mass,  or  the  surface  materials  will  inevitably 
sink,  while  the  mass  will  rise.  And  the  systematic  addition  of 
material  in  small  quantities  has  proven  itself  to  be  the  best 
small  way  of  mending  a  road.  Where  this  is  insufficient,  the 
road  should  be  carefully  swept  and  the  materials  spread  on  to 
the  thickness  of  from  two  to  four  inches,  as  occasion  requires, 
and  if  they  are  not  compacted  with  a  roller,  they  should  be  care- 


222  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

fully  watched  and  the  ruts  all  raked  in  until  the  new  material  is 
thoroughly  compacted.  This  method  is  only  to  be  used  when 
the  other  method  fails  to  keep  up  the  requisite  depth  of  roadbed, 
and  this  method  should  be  adopted  in  conjunction  with  the  other. 

I  have  described  at  sufficient  length,  to  make  my  meaning 
clear,  the  manner  in  which  I  think  the  management  should  be 
carried  on,  and,  at  the  same  time,  said  all  that  seems  to  be 
necessary  in  regard  to  repair  and  maintenance.  I  must,  however, 
before  closing,  fulfill  my  promise  to  make  clear  the  possibility  of 
making  our  roads  perfect  in  a  very  few  years  with  a  tax  rate  no 
greater  than  that  of  the  present.  I  have  obtained  figures  from 
the  commissioner's  clerk  of  Delaware  County,  which  county 
may  be  taken  as  an  example  of  the  more  wealthy  and  pushing 
counties  of  the  State,  and  as  one  in  which  many  interests  are 
represented.  It  is  also,  perhaps,  one  of  the  worst  supplied  with 
good  roads.  I  find  that  during  1889  the  assessed  value  of  the 
property  on  which  road  tax  was  levied  was  $38,479,437.  The 
townships  have  fixed  their  rates  at  from  two  to  ten  mills  and 
will  probably  average  about  four  mills.  This  will  certainly  be 
on  the  safe  side,  for  the  most  wealthy  townships  are  the  ones 
that  raise  the  highest  rates,  as,  for  instance;  Upper  Darby 
Township,  which  is  assessed  at  $2,619,586.  for  a  county  tax, 
from  which  the  salaries  and  emoluments  must  be  deducted 
before  reckoning  the  road  tax,  raises  a  road  tax  of  $16,000.  We 
may  therefore  be  pretty  safe  in  saying  that  four  mills  per  dollar 
is  under  the  average  assessment  for  road  purposes  in  that  county. 
At  this  rate,  nearly  $154,000  must  have  been  raised  last  year,  and, 
as  yet,  no  improvements  of  a  permanent  nature  have  been  made. 
Telford  and  macadam  roads  have  been  laid,  but  by  subscription, 
and  not  from  township  funds.  This  large  amount  of  money  has 
been  expended  entirely  on  township  roads,  and  in  no  case  in 
corporate  limits,  and  we  have  nothing  but  almost  impassable 
roads  to  show  for  it. 

$154,000  will  build  from  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  of  Telford 
road,  or  from  twenty  to  thirty  miles  of  macadam,  and  it  will 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  223 

drain,  ridge  and  surface  between  seventy-five  and  a  hundred 
miles  of  common  road  in  what  is  called  piking. 

From  an  atlas  published  in  1870,  I  find  that  there  were  then 
about  five  hundred  and  fifty-three  and  a  half  miles  of  road  in  the 
county.  This  number  has  probably  been  considerably  increased 
during  the  past  twenty  years.  Of  this  amount  perhaps  one 
hundred  miles  would  be  best  made  substantial  by  what  is  known 
as  Telfording  it,  perhaps  two  hundred  miles  more  should  be 
macadamized,  and  the  remaining  distance,  probably  three 
hundred  miles,  should  be  piked  with  either  broken  stone  or  good 
gravel.  These  figures  are,  of  course,  merely  conjectural,  being 
only  ascertainable  by  careful  surveying  and  the  use  of  sound 
judgment.  The  one  hundred  miles  to  be  Telfor^ed  will  require 
the  first  attention,  for  they  are,  necessarily,  the  worst  in  the 
county  at  present.  If  five  miles,  then,  are  Telforded  each 
year,  and  done  with  some  system,  extending  in  each  instance  from 
some  place  to  some  other  place,  in  twenty  years  we  will  have  our 
Telford  all  down.  Next  the  macadam  claims  attention.  The  ten 
miles  of  Telford  will  require  about  one-fourth  the  appropriation, 
or  perhaps  a  little  more,  thus  leaving  us  about  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  for  macadam  and  other  systems.  At  the  rate 
of  ten  miles  per  year,  we  would,  in  twenty  years,  have  all  roads 
macadamized  which  would  require  such  treatment.  The  ten 
miles  costing  about  $75,000  in  round  figures  for  all  expenses, 
we  still  have  $25,000  or  $30,000  left  for  piking  and  current 
expenses,  and  we  may,  out  of  this,  pike  ten  miles  yearly,  or  in 
twenty  years  have  two  hundred  of  the  three  hundred  miles,  that 
are  left  after  the  Telford  and  macadam  are  taken  out,  in  an 
excellent  condition.  The  first  expense  now  on  the  two  last- 
named  roads  ceases,  and  if,  say,  five  years  are  allowed  at  the 
same  rates  of  taxation,  or,  in  all,  twenty-five  years,  we  can  add 
to  all  our  roads  neat  footpaths,  thorough  drainage  and  nicely- 
graded  slopes,  besides  completing  the  piking. 

By  the  end  of  this  twenty-five  years  all  property  will  have 
increased  in  value,  the  average  increase  being  perhaps  safely 


224  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

estimated  at  25  per  cent.,  thus  making  the  taxable  value  of  prop- 
erty for  road  purposes  nearly  $50,000,000.  After  the  roads  are 
in  condition,  or  at  the  end  of  our  twenty-five  years,  $100  per 
mile  should  be  an  ample  average  allowance  for  the  cost  of  main- 
tenance, or  less  than  $60,000  for  the  county.  At  an  assessed 
value  of  $50,000,000,  an  average  tax  of  one  and  one-fifth  mills 
will  raise  this  amount. 

Necessarily,  much  of  this  is  theoretical,  but  I  have  been 
very  careful  to  keep  on  the  safe  side  in  all  instances.  When 
this  measure  is  proposed,  the  objection  that  it  is  impossible  to 
take  the  entire,  or  any  portion  of  the  present  appropriation  from 
our  roads,  or  they  will  become  impassable,  is  offered.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  case.  A  very  small  amount  of  money  in  the 
hands  of  a  competent  engineer  will  so  drain  the  roads  that  they 
will  be  in  a  better  condition  than  they  now  are  under  the  expen- 
diture of  $160,000  per  year. 

As  I  have  already  intimated,  much  of  this  money  is  worse 
'than  wasted.  We  are  literally  building  roads  with  paper  dollars, 
as  I  heard  a  taxpayer  remark  a  few  evenings  since.  Besides,  to 
guard  against  this  contingency,  we  have  the  margin  of  increas- 
ing valuation,  of  which  I  have  not  made  any  account,  until  after 
the  expiration  of  the  twenty-five  years. 

This  applies  particularly  to  Delaware  County.  Of  course, 
to  the  less  wealthy  counties  a  longer  time  would  necessarily 
elapse  before  all  roads  could  be  placed  in  the  above-described 
condition  ;  but  everywhere  the  roads  can,  at  least,  be  piked  with 
stone  or  gravel.  In  any  locality  there  is  no  excuse  for  not  hav- 
ing good  roads,  even  if  they  are  necessarily  restricted  to  earth 
roads  entirely.  An  earth  road  can  be  successfully  constructed 
over  a  morass,  by  ditching  on  each  side  the  roadway,  and  throw- 
ing the  earth  thus  excavated  upon  a  brush  foundation  for  the 
roadway  itself.  Where  necessary,  sheet  piling  may  be  employed 
at  no  great  expense,  and  on  the  top  of  the  road  thus  formed 
carefully  spread  and  compact  a  surface  cover — anything,  from 
clay  and  sharp  sand  to  the  Telford,  as  fortune  places  it  at  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  225 

command  of  the  engineer.  If  this  can  be  successfully  done,  as 
it  is  all  along  both  sides  of  the  lower  Delaware  and  in  places 
all  over  New  Jersey,  why  can  we  not  have  a  good  earth  road 
anywhere  in  our  State  ? 

It  is  not  necessary  in  an  article  of  this  kind  for  me  to  lay 
down  any  rules  or  directions  by  which  roads  of  any  particular 
class  must  be  constructed.  How  heavy  the  macadam  stone  must 
be,  or  how  thick  the  Telford  bed  should  be  constructed,  are 
things  supposed  to  be  known  by  the  county  engineer.  At  best, 
I  could  only  repeat  what  is  laid  down  as  the  practice  and  experi- 
ence of  road  builders,  which  has  been  done  by  writers  on  the 
subject  so  often  that  the  public  must  now  know  all  about  the 
distinctions  between  the  different  roads.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  me  to  go  into  a  detailed  description  of-  how  much  grade  is 
permissible  for  loads  of  certain  tonnage,  nor  is  it  pertinent  that 
I  should  discuss  the  relative  value  of  the  different  systems,  fur- 
ther than  to  say  that  the  Telford  affords  a  little  better  facility 
for  drainage  than  does  the  macadam,  and  is  less  likely  to  sink 
in  a  soft  sub-grade.  All  other  systems,  as  a  rule,  give  place  to 
the  three  systems  named  for  work  outside  of  paved  towns.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  I  have  insisted  on  thorough  drainage  through- 
out my  essay.  In  providing  for  good  drainage  many  seem  to 
think  that  water  soaking  through  the  roadbed  must  be  provided 
for.  If,  however,  the  roadbed  be  of  the  proper  construction,  no 
matter  what  its  constituents  are — whether  gravel  or  sheet 
asphalt — very  little,  if  any,  water  will  permeate  through  it.  It 
is  only  in  cases  of  not  being  able  to  get  off  in  any  other  man- 
ner that  the  water  takes  this  method  of  seeking  its  natural 
courses.  In  order  to  keep  the  sub-grade  solid,  it  must  be  above 
the  standing  water  on  either  side,  and,  where  necessary,  tiled  to 
convey  its  moisture  to  the  side  drains.  This,  I  think,  covers 
all  that  it  is  necessary  to  say  in  the  description  of  the  system 
herein  proposed.  And  with  the  adoption  of  some  such  system 
by  which  our  roads  may  be  made  passable,  a  long-existing  want 
will  be  supplied. 

15 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


HONORABLE  MENTION.     PAPER  No.  44. 

BY 

FRANCIS  FULLER  MCKENZIE,  C.  E., 

Landscape  Gardener  and  Civil  Engineer < 
5774  Germantown  Avenue,  Philadelphia. 


BEING  much  struck  with  the  very  unsatisfactory  condition 
of  most  of  the  roads  in  this  important  and  flourishing  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  notwithstanding  the  enormous  annual  cost  of 
maintaining  them,  even  in  their  present  state,  and  being  myself 
a  practical  road  engineer,  and  my  father  before  me,  in  whose 
office  and  upon  whose  works  I  spent  many  years  of  my  youth,  I 
gladly  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  now  afforded  me  of  plac- 
ing my  views  of  road  construction  and  maintenance  before  your 
learned  body. 

Although  it  will  be  necessary  to  somewhat  elaborate  this 
paper  on  road  making,  that  I  may  the  more  readily  convey  my 
views  on  the  subject,  yet  I  venture  to  say  that  the  true  principles 
of  economic  road  making  might  be  summed  up  in  the  following 
few  lines  :  A  firm,  dry  foundation,  sound  materials  laid  on  scien- 
tific principles,  proper  and  ample  drainage  of  both  roadbed  and 
surface,  easy  gradients,  easy  and  natural  curves,  a  hard  and  com- 
pact surface,  free  from  all  ruts  and  depressions,  with  a  surface 
neither  too  flat  to  prevent  the  flow  of  surface  water  nor  too  con- 
vex to  be  inconvenient  to  traffic. 

Roads  being  preparatory  to  railways,  and  I  may  say  even  of 
more  importance,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  every  ton  of 
goods  conveyed  by  rail  has,  firstly,  to  traverse  the  roads  leading 
to  the  depots,  it  seems  strange  that  in  the  construction  of  the 
latter  the  highest  available  engineering  skill  is  employed,  whilst 

(226) 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  227 

the  construction  of  the  former  is  generally,  if  not  always,  left 
in  the  hands  of  unskilful  and  incapable  men,  ignorant  alike  of 
either  the  theory  or  practice  of  good  road  making.  A  lasting 
legacy  is  thus  left  to  posterity  in  expensive  maintenance,  instead 
of  good  roads  that,  while  saving  animal  labor,  facilitate  commer- 
cial intercourse,  render  traveling  easy  and  expeditious,  and  at  the 
same  time  are  vastly  cheaper  to  maintain. 

It  will,  I  think,  readily  be  conceded,  that  on  the  state  of  the 
roads,  even  more  than  that  of  the  railways,  the  material  pros- 
perity of  the  country  depends,  for  unless  the  utmost  care  is 
taken  in  selecting  the  best  lines  to  follow,  the  development  of 
the  country  is  much  retarded.  It  will  therefore  be  admitted  that 
the  roads  should  be  laid  out  with  the  greatest  possible  care,  so  as 
to  develop  to  the  fullest  extent  the  best  features  of  the  country, 
both  for  building,  agriculture  and  commercial  purposes.  More 
especially  imperative  is  this  in  the  neighborhood  of  large  cities 
and  towns,  where  every  available  site  is  eagerly  bought  up  at  a 
very  high  rate  for  residential  purposes. 

I  fear  carrying  into  effect  the  suggestions  which  it  will  be 
my  duty  to  make,  will  entail  a  very  heavy  outlay  of  capital,  but 
to  a  State  of  such  vast  importance  as  Pennsylvania,,  and  to  a 
people  of  so  much  intelligence,  enterprise  and  wealth,,  a  way  will 
be  found  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  and  in  such  a  manner  that 
posterity  shall  contribute  its  share  to  the  advantages  received  in 
having  a  country  traversed  by  such  roads  as  will  be  a  credit  to 
the  State  and  a  model  for  others  to  imitate. 

I  will,  with  your  kind  permission,  divide  my  essay  into-  two 
parts,  namely,  Construction  and  Maintenance. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

The  line  of  the  proposed  road  being  decided  upon,  a  care- 
ful survey  should  be  made  to  enable  the  engineer  to  fix  upon 
the  best  and  easiest  grades,  and  in  such  a.  manner  as  will  admit 
of  the  road  being  made  with  the  least  possible  removal  of  soil, 
and  so  that  all  cuttings  and  embankments,  shall  balance,  that 


228  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

there  may  be  no  surplus  soil  to  dispose  of.  Steep  gradients  and 
sharp  curves  should,  if  possible,  be  avoided.  No  grade,  except 
in  very  hilly  countries,  should  exceed  one  in  thirty-three.  And 
here  I  must  say  a  word  against  the  formation  of  dead  straight 
and  level  roads,  often  necessitating  as  much  cutting  and  filling 
as  a  railway.  Of  course,  it  is  well  known  that  so  far  as  traffic 
is  concerned,  the  straight  and  level  road  is  the  best  possible,  and 
for  cities  and  towns  probably  nothing  can  equal  it,  for  in  this 
case  the  adjoining  land  is  quickly  graded  down  or  filled  in  to  the 
street  level.  In  the  suburbs  and  country,  however,  this  is  very 
different,  and,  with  the  exception  of  very  flat  countries,  I  am  of 
opinion  that  this  road  is  the  worst  possible,  because,  in  the  first 
place,  it  is  generally  the  most  costly,  as  the  cuts  and  fillings  are 
often  very  heavy,  and  in  the  next,  the  frequent  cuttings  and 
embankments  effectually  mar  the  beauty  of  the  country,  thus 
driving  away  would-be  residents.  Perhaps  the  greatest  evil 
arises  from  the  destruction  of  a  great  number  of  otherwise 
excellent  building  sites,  often  leaving  one  property  ten  or  fifteen 
feet,  and  often  more,  above  the  road  level,  whilst  the  adjoining 
property  is  as  many  feet  below,  thus  reducing  the  value  of  the 
land  considerably.  Had  the  engineer  given  way  a  little  in  the 
gradients  and  followed  more  the  contour  of  the  country,  he 
might  have  saved  a  considerable  sum  in  the  construction, 
although  making  a  slightly  longer  road;  have  heightened  the 
natural  beauties  of  the  country,  thereby  drawing  residents,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  have  enormously  increased  the  value  of  adja- 
cent properties.  I  must  also  enter  a  protest  against  changing 
abruptly  from  one  gradient  to  another.  On  certain  roads  that 
I  could  name,  one  can  actually  feel,  while  driving  over  them, 
immediately  one  passes  from  one  grade  to  another,  whereas,  had 
the  road  been  made  with  a  flowing  grade,  it  would  have  been 
very  much  pleasanter  for  traffic,  and,  at  the  same  time,  more 
beautiful.  Whoever  saw  in  nature  contours  made  up  of  straight 
lines  ? 

Having  now  the  line  carefully  surveyed  and  set  out,  all  nee- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  229 

essary   cuttings  and  embankments  formed,  the  next   work   of 
importance  is : 

THE  FORMATION  AND  DRAINAGE  OF  THE  ROADBED. 

Above  all,  the  roadbed  should  be  perfectly  drained ;  the 
want  of  special  attention  to  this  necessity  is  the  chief  cause  of 
the  heavy  annual  expense  in  maintenance.  A  road  badly  designed 
and  made  can  seldom  be  rendered  satisfactory,  and  may  as  well 
be  abandoned  at  once,  and  a  new  line  of  road  adopted,  this 
being  in  most  cases  the  cheapest  in  the  end,  and  in  every  case 
the  most  satisfactory. 

DRAINAGE. 

Great  care  must  be  taken  not  only  with  the  drainage  of  the 
road  surface,  but  also  with  that  of  the  roadbed  and  adjoining 
land,  and  where  the  road  is  to  be  constructed  on  a  wet,  retentive 
soil,  a  system  of  under-drainage  must  be  provided  by  cutting 
trenches  across  the  roadbed,  and  discharging  into  the  side 
ditches.  These  trenches  should  be  from  twelve  to  eighteen 
inches  deep  and  about  one  foot  wide  at  the  bottom,  having  the 
sides  sloping  outward  ;  in  these  should  be  constructed  porous 
drains,  composed  of  old  bricks,  flat  stones,  or  whatever  suitable 
material  is  at  hand,  and  the  trenches  filled  up  again  to  the  level 
of  the  roadbed  with  rough  stones.  The  number  of  these  cross 
drains  must  be  regulated  by  the  nature  of  the  soil ;  in  stiff, 
heavy  clay  they  ought  to  be  every  thirty  or  forty  feet.  On  each 
side  of  the  roadbed,  at  a  distance  of  from  twelve  to  sixteen  feet, 
should  be  cut  open  ditches  of  a  sufficient  size  and  declivity  to 
readily  conduct  away  all  water  that  can  possibly  fall  on  the  road. 
Where  footpaths  are  to  be  constructed,  they  will  be  formed  on 
the  strips  of  ground  between  the  road  and  open  ditch,  with  a 
curbstone  six  inches  above  the  level  of  the  edge  of  the  road ; 
surface  water  will  be  collected  thereby  and  conveyed  by  pipe 
drains,  fifty  or  sixty  feet  apart,  under  the  footways  into  the  side 
ditches.  Where  no  footpaths  are  to  be  constructed  these  strips 
should  remain  in  sod,  with  a  neatly-cut  edge  defining  the  metaled 
road,  which  will  serve  the  same  purpose  as  the  curb  edge,  and 


230  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

will  be  connected   with   side  ditches   by   open  grips   running 
across  the  road. 

These  grass  strips  will  be  found  in  every  way  preferable  to 
the  general  plan  of  removing  the  surface  to  the  same  slope  as 
the  road,  as  so  many  roadmakers  do,  with  the  mistaken  idea  that 
it  facilitates  drainage,  firstly,  because  the  cut  edge  helps  to  col- 
lect the  surface  water,  and  readily  discharges  it  into  the  proper 
channels  ;  and,  secondly,  because  they  will  always  be  clean  and 
prevent  the  sides  of  the  road  from  becoming  poached  by  cattle, 
and  the  consequent  carrying  of  mud  on  to  the  road  surface — not 
to  mention  the  neat  and  tidy  appearance  they  give  to  the  road 
when  nicely  trimmed,  at  the  same  time  saving  the  cost  of 
removal.  These  edges  should  never  be  so  high  as  to  prevent 
the  passage  of  wheels  in  the  case  of  emergency.  Where  sewer, 
gas,  or  water  pipes  are  to  be  laid,  they  should  be  placed  under 
these  strips  or  footways,  immediately  off  the  metaled  road,  and 
thus  save  the  road  from  being  constantly  torn  up  for  repairs. 

WIDTH  AND  CROSS  SECTION. 

All  roads  should  be  made  wide.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
narrow  roads  are  the  cheapest.  Of  course,  when  constructing 
a  new  road  the  cost  is  in  proportion  to  its  width,  but  a  narrow 
road  is  always  the  more  expensive  to  maintain,  owing  to  the 
vehicles  being  compelled  to  keep  more  or  less  to  one  track  in 
the  centre,  nothing  being  more  destructive  than  the  constant 
wear  in  one  track.  A  wide  road  is  always  more  evenly  worn  all 
over,  provided,  of  course,  that  it  is  constructed  according  to  sci- 
entific principles  and  kept  in  good  repair.  But  there  is  yet  an- 
other, and  a  very  important,  advantage  that  wide  have  over  nar- 
row roads ;  this  is,  the  greater  amount  of  light  and  air  obtained, 
and  it  will  be  found  that  a  wide  and  open  road  will  always  be 
dry  long  before  a  narrow  and  confined  one.  When  roads,  espe- 
cially main  roads,  are  laid  out,  care  should  be  taken  to  secure 
plenty  of  land  for  the  eventual  full  width  of  the  road,  as  it  can 
then  be  obtained  at  a  very  slight  additional  cost,  otherwise  the 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  231 

widening  of  an  old  road  is  always  a  most  expensive  work  for  all 
concerned,  not  to  mention  the  number  of  fine  trees,  plants,  and 
often  buildings,  destroyed  thereby. 

THE  CROSS  SECTION 

of  a  road  is  a  very  important  point,  and  one  over  which  there 
have  been  great  differences  of  opinion.  It  should  neither  be  too 
flat  nor  too  rounded.  In  the  former  case  the  surface  water 
remains  on  the  road  instead  of  draining  off  into  the  side  ditches, 
whereas,  in  the  latter,  owing  to  its  great  convexity,  vehicles  can 
only  travel  with  comfort,  or,  indeed,  with  safety,  in  the  centre  of 
the  road,  thereby  soon  making  three  tracks  there,  and,  as  has 
been  before  remarked,  nothing  destroys  a  road  sooner.  But 
there  is  yet  another  disadvantage,  and  that  is,  that  as  soon  as 
the  traffic  is  driven  off  the  centre  of  the  road  a  double  wear 
takes  place,  owing  to  the  tendency  of  the  vehicle  to  slide  down 
the  inclined  plane  by  force  of  gravity,  and  as  this  tendency  is 
perpendicular  to  the  line  of  draft,  the  labor  of  the  horse,  and 
the  wear  and  tear  of  both  wheels  and  road  surface,  is  much 
increased.  The  sole  object  in  rounding  the  surface  is  to  allow 
the  water  to  run  off  freely,  and  I  think  that  it  is  now  agreed 
that  a  slope  of  one  inch  to  every  six  feet  width  of  metaled  road, 
or  a  slope  of  one  in  seventy-two,  is  sufficient  for  all  roads  con- 
structed of  good  hard  material :  provided,  of  course,  that  they 
are  kept  in  good  repair.  Macadam  says :  "  I  consider  a  road 
should  be  as  flat  as  possible  with  regard  to  allowing  the  water  to 
run  off  it  at  all,  because  a  carriage  ought  to  stand  upright  in 
traveling  as  much  as  possible.  I  have  generally  made  roads 
three  inches  higher  in  the  centre  than  I  have  at  the  sides  when 
they  are  eighteen  feet  wide ;  if  the  road  be  smooth  and  well 
made  the  water  will  run  off  very  easily  in  such  a  slope."  The 
drainage  of  surface  water  is  much  more  effectually  obtained  by 
selecting  a  course  for  the  road  that  is  not  horizontally  level, 
because  then  the  slightest  wheel  track  becomes  a  channel  to 
carry  off  the  water,  whereas,  in  the  case  of  a  level  road  it  must 


232  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

be  apparent  to  every  one  that  no  matter  how  rounded  the  sur- 
face may  be,  every  track  mark  becomes  a  basin  to  hold  it.  The 
roadbed  must  now  be  excavated  to  the  same  contour  as  the 
finished  road  is  to  be,  not  with  any  idea  of  drainage — because  it 
must  be  remembered  that  as  soon  as  the  road  becomes  subject 
to  rolling  or  the  pressure  of  heavy  vehicles,  the  road  material 
becomes  so  forced  down  into  the  roadbed,  and  the  soil,  in  its  turn, 
worked  up  into  the  stone,  that  the  whole  becomes  amalgamated — 
but  because  by  so  forming  the  roadbed  there  will  be  an  equal 
thickness  of  material  over  the  whole  surface,  and  if  a  road  is 
made  and  maintained  according  to  scientific  principles,  there  is 
no  reason  why  any  one  part  should  have  a  greater  thickness  than 
another.  The  bed  being  now  formed,  if  on  clay  or  stiff  soil, 
should  be  well  rolled  with  a  horse  roller  from  two  to  three  tons 
in  weight,  when  it  will  then  be  ready  for  the 

MATERIAL. 

This,  of  course,  very  much  depends  upon  what  is  found  in 
the  neighborhood.  Where  good  stone  is  found,  this  is  undoubt- 
edly the  best  material  for  county  roads,  but  where  no  stone  is 
found,  either  gravel  must  be  used  or  stone  must  be  brought  from 
a  distance,  in  which  case  it  is  merely  a  question  of  cost.  But 
here  in  Pennsylvania,  where  good  stone  is  so  plentiful,  we  need 
not  bother  about  anything  else.  But  I  may  say  that  most  excel- 
lent roads  can  be  made  with  gravel,  if  care  is  taken  in  the  selec- 
tion of  the  same,  and  they  are  well  rolled  and  grouted  with  a 
good  binding  material. 

The  most  important  quality  in  stone  for  road  making  is  its 
toughness  to  withstand  the  crushing  strain  of  heavy  loads.  The 
best  stones  are,  therefore,  the  granites  and  trap  rocks ;  good 
roads  may  be  made  with  beach  pebbles,  but  being  round,  they 
must  be  well  grouted  with  a  good  binding  material.  The  harder 
limestones  also  are  suitable,  but  owing  to  their  property  of  absorb- 
ing moisture,  they  are  too  liable  to  be  injured  by  frosts. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  233 

FOUNDATION. 

The  great  desideratum  in  road  making  is  to  so  construct  the 
road  surface  that  no  moisture  shall  penetrate  to  the  foundation, 
so  preventing  the  mud  from  working  up  into  the  stone.  To 
insure  this  there  must  be  a  compact  and  solid  foundation. 
Macadam's  idea  of  having  an  elastic  road  bed  is,  I  think,  quite 
exploded  by  this  time.  In  theory  it  is  quite  correct,  and  if  a  truly 
elastic  road  could  be  made  it  would  doubtless  be  the  best  for 
ease  of  draft ;  but  no  elasticity,  except  it  be  on  the  surface  of 
the  road,  should  be  allowed,  and  with  the  material  used  at 
present  this  is  an  impossibility.  Wood  pavement,  set  on  a  solid 
concrete  foundation,  is  the  nearest  approach  to  an  elastic  road 
yet  discovered.  But  in  the  case  of  a  stone  road  the  foundation 
cannot  be  too  solid.  It  has  been  proved  by  actual  experiment 
that  in  the  case  of  a  stone  road  built  on  a  yielding  or  loose  foun- 
dation great  wear  takes  place  toward  the  bottom,  whereas,  when 
constructed  upon  a  solid  or  rigid  foundation  the  wear  of  the  base 
is  almost  imperceptible,  all  the  wear  taking  place  upon  the  sur- 
face. And  I  think  I  am  correct  in  saying  that  all  the  best 
authorities  now  recommend  what  is  called  the  Telford  road, 
which  is  contructed  upon  a  roughly-paved  foundation  composed 
of  good  tough  stones  from  nine  to  twelve  inches  deep  carefully 
laid  by  hand  across  the  road,  with  the  thinnest  edges  upward  ; 
this  is  then  gone  over  with  hammers,  all  projections  knocked  off, 
and  the  interstices  filled  up,  the  whole  surface  then  shaped  up 
to  the  proper  contour  and  thoroughly  rolled  and  consolidated. 
At  all  places  where  a  great  wash  of  water  may  be  expected, 
rough  stone  gutters  should  be  constructed  of  the  same  material 
as  the  road  foundation.  Where  stone  is  scarce,  a  good  founda- 
tion may  be  made  with  well-burnt  clay,  old  bricks,  etc.,  but 
anything  likely  to  rot  or  decay  should  by  all  means  be  avoided. 
If  the  line  of  the  road  passes  through  a  bog  or  spongy  ground, 
preparation  must  first  be  made  for  the  foundation  by  laying  two 
alternate  layers  of  fagots,  crosswise  and  lengthwise.  Macadam 
was  exceptionally  successful  in  constructing  roads  over  such 


234  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

ground,  and,  in  fact,  said  he  would  rather  lay  a  road  over  a  bog 
than  over  solid  soil.  This  is  how  he  became  so  favorably 
impressed  with  the  idea  of  elastic  roads. 

Having  now  obtained  a  perfectly  solid  and  rigid  foundation, 
the  road  is  all  ready  for  the  reception  of  the  finer  stone,  and  a 
three-inch  layer  of  the  toughest  stone,  broken  to  pass  through  a 
two-inch  ring,  must  now  be  laid  and  thoroughly  rolled,  when  a 
second  three-inch  layer  of  the  same  stone,  broken  to  pass 
through  a  one-and-a-half-inch  ring,  must  likewise  be  spread  and 
consolidated,  great  care  being  taken  with  this  layer  to  properly 
shape  the  road  surface  to  desired  contour.  The  road  is  now 
ready  for  its  final  dressing,  and  this  should  be  a  layer  of  the  best 
trap-rock  screenings,  only  sufficient  being  spread  to  fill  up  all 
interstices  so  as  to  present  a  firm,  smooth  surface  for  traffic  ;  any 
beyond  this  will  merely  be  wasted,  as  it  will  be  turned  into  mud 
in  the  Winter  or  dust  in  the  Summer.  This  last  layer  should  be 
well  watered  while  rolling,  so  as  to  wash  the  fine  material  into 
all  spaces,  and  so  form  a  compact,  impenetrable  crust  to  the  road. 
It  is  most  important  that  this  last  layer  shall  be  perfectly  clean 
and  free  from  any  soil  or  mould.  Otherwise,  in  wet  weather  it 
will  soon  turn  to  mud  and  stick  to  every  wheel  that  passes  over 
the  road.  The  foregoing  measurements  and  quantities  apply 
to  main  roads  subject  to  much  traffic.  In  the  case  of  accommo- 
dation, roads  less  material  will  be  found  sufficient.  A  very  good 
road  may  be  made  with  a  six-inch  foundation  of  rough  stones, 
one  three-inch  layer  of  one-and-a-half  inch  stone,  with  necessary 
layer  of  screenings  on  the  top. 

SIZE    OF    MATERIAL. 

With  regard  to  the  size  the  stone  should  be  broken,  much 
difference  of  opinion  exists,  but  I  am  of  opinion  that  no  stone, 
except  for  the  foundation  pavement,  should  be  too  large  to  pass 
through  a  two-inch  ring  nor  smaller  than  that  passed  through  a 
one-inch  ring.  That  stone  will  be  found  best  for  road  making 
that  breaks  into  pieces  as  nearly  cubical  as  possible ;  that  which 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  235 

splits  into  long,  thin  pieces  should  be  avoided.  Stone  broken  by 
machinery  can  be  used  of  a  much  larger  size  than  that  broken 
by  hand,  because  the  action  of  the  crusher  is  to  splinter  some 
stones  without  breaking  them,  when  the  first  heavy  weight  pass- 
ing over  them  completes  the  fracture. 


ROLLING. 

I  must  here  say  a  word  on  the  utmost  importance  and  econ- 
omy of  thorough  rolling  and  consolidation  of  all  newly-made  or 
repaired  roads  before  allowing  traffic  thereon.  The  old  custom 
of  laying  a  thick  layer  of  stone  on  either  new  or  old  roads, 
and  leaving  it  for  the  traffic  to  grind  down  level,  is  little  short  of 
barbarous  to  the  horses,  destructive  to  vehicles  and  wasteful 
material,  at  the  same  time  costing  a  considerable  sum  in  watch- 
ing and  maintenance.  It  is  true  that  in  time  the  desired  end 
may  be  obtained,  but  not  without  great  waste  of  material, 
owing  to  the  grinding  down  of  the  stones,  in  which  process  the 
angles  are  rubbed  off  until  their  surfaces  become  rounded,  thus 
rendering  them  liable  to  be  constantly  loosened.  Mr.  Burt,  the 
well-known  London  contractor,  says  :  "  That  quite  one-third  of 
the  loose  road  material  used  in  London  is  literally  wasted  by 
being  ground  up  under  the  traffic  before  the  consolidation  of  the 
surface  is  effected." 

The  advantages  of  rolling  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  : 
Economy,  facility  of  perfect  construction,  comfort  to  persons 
and  horses  using  the  roads,  improved  surface,  diminishing  the 
wear  and  tear  of  vehicles,  and  a  saving  of  material  amounting  to 
as  much  as  25  per  cent,  to  50  per  cent. 

The  advantages  of  steam  rolling  over  horse  power  are, 
firstly,  economy ;  secondly/  ease  of  manipulation,  and  thirdly, 
obviating  the  destruction  caused  to  the  roads  by  the  horses' 
hoofs  while  drawing  the  heavy  roller,  at  the  same  time  in  every 
way  doing  the  work  better.  The  steam  roller  may  also  be  used 
for  tearing  up  the  old  stone  roads  for  repairs.  Road  rollers 
should  not  be  heavier  than  ten  tons  nor  lighter  than  five. 


236  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

The  road  will  now  be  found  quite  ready  to  open  for  public 
traffic,  and  the  only  thing  further  to  consider  will  be  its 

MAINTENANCE. 

It  matters  not  how  well  a  road  may  be  made,  if  it  be  not  well 
looked  after,  and  all  mud  and  dust  removed  as  soon  as  made,  it 
will  soon  get  into  bad  condition,  the  mud  acting  as  a  wet  blanket 
to  the  road,  continually  rotting  and  softening  the  material.  Fof 
,  economical  and  convenient  traffic  all  roads  should  be  maintained 
in  thoroughly  good  order,  but  how  seldom  is  this  the  case.  This 
is  the  more  inexcusable,  as  it  has  been  proved  over  and  over  again 
that  roads  well  kept  and  maintained  actually  cost  considerably 
less  in  the  end  than  neglected  roads.  But  beside  actual  cost,  we 
must  also  take  into  consideration  the  saving  in  animal  labor, 
extra  wear  and  tear  of  vehicles,  and  not  to  mention  tempers, 
effected  by  good  roads.  Mr.  Edwin  Chadwick,  C.B.  (England), 
speaking  on  this  subject,  remarks  :  "  In  the  present  condition  of 
the  country  it  is  of  vast  importance  to  reduce  the  cost  of  transit 
to  the  uttermost.  If  by  the  improvement  of  the  rural  roads,  four 
horses  could  be  enabled  to  do  the  work  of  five,  the  saving  to  the 
country  in  agricultural  horses  would  not  be  less  than  seven 
million  (pounds)  a  year.  If  the  urban  traffic  is  taken  into  con- 
sideration, we  believe  the  cost  of  transit  to  be  saved  by  improve- 
ment in  roads  would  not  be  less  than  from  seventeen  to  twenty 
millions  a  year." 

The  formation  of  small  local  associations  for  the  construc- 
tion, repair  and  improvement  of  the  local  roads  is  an  unwise, 
although  highly  laudable,  work.  All  public  roads  and  footways 
should  be  under  the  direct  control  of  the  county,  and  each  county 
under  the  control  of  the  State  legislatures.  City  streets  and 
pavements  will,  of  course,  be  under  the  control  of  the  city  author- 
ities. When  one  county  is  too  small  or  too  poor  to  work  alone, 
two  or  more  adjoining  counties  should  amalgamate,  so  as  to 
enable  them,  in  the  first  place,  to  appoint  a  capable  road  surveyor 
and  engineer,  to  pay  him  a  salary  fully  equal  to  his  worth,  and, 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  237 

secondly,  to  own  all  necessary  plant,  especially  a  steam  roller, 
water  carts,  horses,  etc.  This  will  be  found  to  be  true  economy, 
nothing  being  so  expensive  and  wasteful  as  leaving  the  construc- 
tion and  repairs  of  roads  in  the  hands  of  incapable  and  ignorant 
men. 

Then  comes  the  question,  How  is  the  money  to  be  raised  for 
this  work  ?  And  this  is  a  serious  question.  But  I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  the  best  way  will  be  to  impose  a  small  tax  on  the 
assessed  value  of  all  lands  in  the  county,  of  course  rating  build- 
ing lands  very  much  higher  than  farm  lands,  for  the  advantages 
of  having  the  county  traversed  by  good  roads  ;  and  also,  further, 
to  tax  all  wheels  in  the  county,  thus  making  those  who  use  the 
roads  most  bear  the  greater  share  of  the  cost  of  repairs  and  con- 
struction. The  only  other  way  would  be  to  establish  turnpikes 
all  over  the  State,  and,  although  this  was  found  to  be  very  suc- 
cessful in  England,  so  far  as  the  condition  of  the  roads  was  con- 
cerned, yet  it  was  found  to  cause  so  much  annoyance  and  delay 
that  they  have  now  all  been  done  away  with.  Another  serious 
drawback  to  this  system  is,  that  foot  passengers,  although  deriv- 
ing great  benefit  from  good  roads,  pay  nothing  toward  their 
cost.  Where  new  roads  are  to  be  constructed,  the  money  should 
be  borrowed  to  pay  the  actual  cost  of  construction,  and  repaid 
over  a  period  of  not  less  than  ten  years. 

I  must  here  say  a  word  on  the  advisability  of  the  county 
owning  all  the  public  sidewalks.  There  seems  no  good  reason 
why  a  man  should  be  compelled  to  construct  and  keep  in  repair 
a  public  footpath  in  front  of  his  property  any  more  than  that  he 
should  construct  and  repair  the  public  highway.  But  the  great 
benefit  will  be  derived  from  the  uniform  condition  and  appear- 
ance of  all  sidewalks.  And  where  the  line  of  the  road  is  to  be 
planted,  this  also  should  be  carried  out  by  the  county,  so  doing 
away  with  the  bad  effects  too  often  seen,  where  one  plants  a  line 
of  maples  in  front  of  his  property,  while  his  neighbor  on  the 
right  plants  a  row  of  elms,  and  the  neighbor  on  his  left  plants, 
perhaps,  Lombardy  poplars,  the  chances  being  that  each  one 


238  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

chooses  a  line  for  himself,  while  the  trees  are  all  different  sizes 
and  ages. 

For  the  better  maintenance  of  roads,  they  should  be  divided 
up  into  lengths,  and  each  length  given  to  the  charge  of  an  intel- 
ligent and  reliable  laborer,  who  should  never  be  changed  from 
one  length  to  another,  but  always  remain  on  his  own  road.  This 
man  must  be  thoroughly  reliable  and  must  be  out  wet  or  fine  ; 
in  fact,  it  is  more  important  that  he  should  be  out  in  wet  weather 
than  fine,  because  he  can  then  readily  see  where  the  wet  stands 
on  the  road  and  where  it  needs  draining.  He  should  never  be 
allowed  to  let  his  road  get  out  of  order,  as  in  no  case  does  the 
old  proverb,  "A  stitch  in  time  saves  nine,"  apply  more  forcibly 
than  to  road  mending.  He  should  be  instructed  to  remove  all 
mud  as  soon  as  formed,  sweep  quite  clean  of  dust  in  Summer 
— for  it  must  be  remembered  that  Summer  dust  makes  Winter 
mud — and  it  will  be  found  easier  to  remove  the  dust  than  the 
mud,  while  doing  less  damage  to  the  road ;  to  fill  in  at  once, 
with  nicely-broken  stone,  any  rut  that  may  show  itself,  and  in 
Summer  to  remove  every  loose  stone  from  the  road. 

This  man  should  have  the  power  of  obtaining  extra  help  on 
emergency,  as  great  injury  may  be  done  to  a  road  at  the  break- 
ing-up  of  a  frost  if  proper  help  is  not  at  hand.  An  active  man 
on  a  good  main  road  can  keep  from  three  to  four  miles  in  good 
condition.  In  Summer  he  will  be  fully  employed  cleaning  the 
water-tables,  cutting  weeds,  removing  loose  stones  and  cleaning 
off  all  dust,  horse  droppings  and  dirt. 

Nothing  is  so  destructive  to  a  road  as  a  visible  wheel  track  ; 
when  once  formed  it  not  only  prevents  the  proper  drainage  of 
the  road  surface,  but  every  subsequent  vehicle  will  be  sure  to 
follow  in  the  same  track,  thereby  aggravating  the  evil.  The 
effect  of  this  may  be  seen  by  any  one  by  examining  any  road 
showing  wear.  No  matter  how  bad  the  ruts  are  in  the  straight 
parts  of  the  road,  the  road  will  be  found  in  good  condition  at  all 
the  turnings,  because  here  every  vehicle  goes  its  own  direction, 
and  so  keeps  the  surface  compact  and  even. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  239 

Where,  from  unavoidable  causes,  three  ruts  or  tracks  have 
been  allowed  to  form  in  a  road,  only  one  should  be  filled  in  at  a 
time,  and  it  will  be  found  best  to  fill  in  first  that  caused  by  the 
horse,  as  by  so  doing  it  will  have  the  effect  of  driving  the  traffic 
off  the  centre  of  the  road,  some  to  one  side  and  some  to  the 
other,  while  three  times  the  amount  of  road  will  be  got  over  in 
the  time.  By  judiciously  putting  the  stones  on  in  small  quanti- 
ties the  traffic  is  dispersed  and  the  road  kept  level  and  hard. 
Only  the  smallest  stone  chips  should  be  used  for  the  repairs 
during  Summer,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  all  repairs  should  be  done 
as  soon  as  the  roads  get  soft  in  Autumn  and  early  Winter. 
When  it  is  found  necessary  to  redress  the  road,  and  the  surface 
is  very  hard  and  compact,  it  should  first  be  loosened  with  picks, 
or  it  can  be  done  well  and  quickly  with  the  steam  roller  by  fix- 
ing spikes  in  the  periphery  of  the  roller.  The  road  should  then 
be  shaped  up  to  proper  contour,  and  a  layer  not  more  than  three 
inches  thick  of  well-broken  one-and-a-half-inch  stone  spread 
over  the  whole  surface,  well  rolled  and  consolidated,  and  then 
faced  up  with  the  screening,  as  in  the  construction  of  new  roads. 

CARTING. 

All  carting,  as  far  as  possible,  should  be  done  during  the 
Summer,  when  the  roads  are  hard  and  dry,  and  the  broken  stone 
should  be  placed  in  heaps  at  regular  intervals  along  the  sides  of 
the  road,  because  not  only  does  the  carting  then  do  less  injury, 
but  the  stones  improve,  as  all  stone  hardens  when  exposed  to 
the  weather. 

WATERING. 

It  is  most  important  that  the  roads  should  be  well  watered, 
not  only  in  Summer,  but  also  occasionally  in  Winter.  In  Sum- 
mer, during  the  dry,  hot  weather,  the  road  surface  becomes 
extremely  brittle,  and  should  then  be  well  watered,  having  first 
removed  all  dust  and  refuse.  Sometimes  in  Winter,  especially 
after  frost,  the  road  gets  very  sticky  and  picks  up  freely  on  the 
passing  wheels.  It  should  then  also  be  watered  and  all  slush 


240  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

and  mud  removed.     The  watering  should  always,  as  near  as  pos- 
sible, resemble  a  light  shower  of  rain. 

WIDTH    OF   WHEELS. 

Great  destruction  is  caused  to  roads  by  the  growing  prac- 
tice of  using  vehicles  carrying  heavy  loads  with  wheels  insuffi- 
ciently wide  to  bear  the  weight  imposed  upon  them.  Telford's 
rule  was  one-inch  tire  for  every  five  hundred-weight  on  the 
wheel,  and  it  has  been  proved  over  and  over  again  that  a  two- 
and-a-half-inch  tire  causes  double  the  wear  of  a  four-inch. 
Small  wheels  also  do  more  injury  to  a  road  than  large  ones,  as 
the  action  of  the  former  is  rather  to  push  and  move  the  stones 
out  of  their  places,  while  the  latter  passes  over  them,  helping,  in 
fact,  to  consolidate  the  road.  Large  and  broad  wheels,  while 
doing  less  damage  to  the  road,  cause  less  draught  on  the  horses. 

TREES    AND    HEDGES. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  as  far  as  the  road  is  concerned, 
both  trees  and  hedges  do  a  great  deal  of  injury,  especially  the 
former,  for  not  only  do  they,  to  a  great  extent,  deprive  the  road 
of  the  drying  action  of  both  sun  and  air,  but  in  wet  weather  they 
are  continually  dripping  on  the  road  surface,  thus  keeping  it  in 
a  constant  state  of  wet  and  mud. 

However,  a  country  road  without  trees  is  a  dreary  object 
indeed,  and  where  it  is  decided  to  plant  the  line  of  a  road,  the 
trees  should  be  placed  as  far  off  the  metaled  roadway  as  space 
will  admit.  The  same  applies,  although  in  a  less  degree,  to 
hedges.  So  far  as  the  road  is  concerned,  nothing  can  be  better 
than  the  post-and-rail  fence,  on  account  of  the  extra  light  and 
air  thereby  admitted,  but  a  hedge  is  infinitely  more  beautiful. 
Where  the  adjoining  country  is  well  wooded  and  planted,  I 
would  advise  that  no  trees  be  planted  along  the  line  of  the  road. 

I  understand  that  this  essay  competition  is  for  country 
roads  only,  so  I  have  confined  myself  to  them,  but  before 
closing  I  should  like  to  say  just  a  few  words  on 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE!  24l 

STREETS. 

In  the  first  place,  I  would  advise  that  all  main  streets  and 
thoroughfares  where  the  traffic  is  excessive  should  be  paved 
with  the  best  asphalt  pavement.  Secondly,  that  the  residential 
and  less  busy  parts  be  paved  with  wood  pavement.  And  thirdly, 
that  side  streets  and  less  frequented  parts  be  paved  with  granite 
blocks. 

ASPHALT. 

In  London,  after  severe  and  lengthy  experiments,  the  Val 
de  Travers  asphalt  laid  on  a  solid  foundation  of  at  least  eighteen 
inches  of  concrete  has  been  found  to  be  the  best  and  most 
lasting. 

WOOD    PAVEMENT. 

This  should  be  laid  on  a  foundation  similar  to  the  asphalt, 
carefully  shaped  up  to  the  desired  contour.  The  wood  blocks 
should  be  of  the  best  creosoted  yellow  pine,  three  by  nine  inches 
and  six  inches  deep,  laid  lengthwise  across  the  street,  with  the 
fibre  of  the  wood  in  a  vertical  position,  and  with  a  water-tight 
joint  of  not  more  than  one-half  inch  between  each  block.  The 
great  point  in  laying  wood  pavement  is  to  make  the  surface  so 
water-tight  that  no  moisture  shall  reach  the  foundation.  One  of 
the  best  wood  pavements  is  that  known  as  the  Henson.  The 
great  advantage  of  wood  pavement  is  that  it  is  almost  noiseless 
and  at  the  same  time  affording  a  good  foothold  for  the  horses. 

GRANITE    PAVEMENT. 

This  is  perhaps  the  cheapest  and  most  lasting  pavement  in 
existence,  but  it  has  one  serious  drawback,  and  that  is  the  exces- 
sive noise  made  by  traffic  thereon,  and  this  is  serious  enough  to 
banish  it  from  all  the  most  crowded  and  principal  thoroughfares. 
The  granite  blocks  should  be  dressed  about  3"  x  9"  and  from  6 
to  9  inches  deep.  The  foundation  is  prepared  similar  to  that  for 
the  Telford  road,  with  a  layer  of  clean,  sharp  sand  on  the  top, 
in  which  the  blocks  are  bedded  ;  these  are  then  well  rammed  and 
filled  in  with  a  grouting  of  cement  and  sand. 

16 


242  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

SEWERS,    GAS    PIPES,    ETC. 

In  all  the  principal  thoroughfares  it  is  most  important  that 
sub-ways  at  least  six  by  four  feet  should  be  constructed  under 
the  centre  of  the  pavement,  in  which  all  water  and  gas  pipes, 
telegraph,  telephone,  and  other  electric  wires  must  be  laid.  And 
under  this  sub-way  should  be  constructed  the  main  sewer. 

This  may  at  first  sight  seem  to  be  a  very  expensive  and  per- 
haps needless  work,  but  if  the  water,  gas,  and  electric  com- 
panies be  charged  rentals  for  the  privilege  of  laying  their  pipes 
and  wires  therein,  it  can  soon  be  made  to  pay  for  itself,  and  at 
the  same  time  saving  the  pavement  from  the  continual  and 
inconvenient  tearing-up  for  repairs  so  frequently  seen. 

In  conclusion,  there  is  nothing  recommended  in  the  fore- 
going essay  at  all  inclined  to  be  experimental  or  fanciful,  but 
everything  is  the  result  of  thorough  and  severe  tests  carried  out 
during  the  last  century  in  England.  And  I  think  every  one 
will  admit  that  England  is  as  much  and  as  justly  celebrated  for 
her  beautiful  roads  as  London  is  for  its  pavements. 


DIGEST  OF  THE  CONTENTS   OF  THE   REMAINING 
CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   ROAD   PRIZES.1 


INTRODUCTORY. 

NUMEROUS  other  papers  were  submitted  containing  valuable 
suggestions  intended  for  the  use  of  the  public,  and  the  com- 
mittee have  thought  it  expedient,  therefore,  to  cause  a  synopsis 
of  these  several  contributions  to  be  prepared,  so  as  to  give  a 
concensus  of  the  views  of  the  writers  as  a  guide  to  the  formula- 
tion of  better  laws  and  regulations  on  this  important  subject. 

The  contributions  not  already  published  in  full  were  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Better  Roads, 
with  the  request  that  he  should  review  them,  making  such  ex- 
tracts as  might  be  of  service  to  the  general  public,  and  giving  in 
substance  the  opinions  of  the  authors. 

In  compliance  with  this  reqest  the  following  synopsis  is 
submitted,  exhibiting  the  views  of  the  numerous  and  widely 
diversified  interests  represented  by  these  papers. 

For  greater  facility  of  reference,  an  attempt  will  be  made  to 
classify  these  opinions  under  various  sub-divisions,  as  economics, 
construction,  cost,  suggestions,  criticisms,  and  benefits,  fol- 
lowed by  a  summation,  stating  the  general  conclusions  and 
recommendations  of  the  writers. 

The  first  step^  in  all  reformations,  whether  material  or  moral, 
requires  that  a  careful  diagnosis  be  made  of  existing  evils,  and 
that  measures  be  taken  as  speedily  as  possible  to  ameliorate 
them.  Following  this  order,  we  will  proceed  to  examine  first, 
the  several  defects  of  existing  roads  and  the  laws  relating  thereto, 
as  set  forth  in  the  contributions  before  us. 

1  The  numbers  affixed  to  the  extracts  are  those  attached  to  the  papers  submitted  for  com- 
petition. 

(243) 


244  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

GENERAL  DEFECTS  AND  ECONOMICS. 

Thus  we  find  it  stated  that  the  condition  of  our  roads  is  a 
disgrace  to  our  civilization,  and  in  support  of  this  generally 
accepted  opinion,  some  statistics  are  given  which  will  serve  to 
measure  the  great  waste  caused  by  the  neglect  and  mismanage- 
ment of  our  highways. 

A  contractor  who  could  have  hauled  thirty-five  tons  of  hay 
seven  miles  in  three  days,  at  a  cost  of  $50,  on  a  macadam  road, 
found  that  on  the  mud  roads  of  Philadelphia  County,  it  actually 
took  him  two  weeks,  cost  $200,  and  nearly  killed  his  horses. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  costing  him  twenty  cents  per  ton-mile,  the 
actual  cost  was  eighty-two  cents,  being  a  tax  of  sixty-two  cents 
per  ton  per  mile,  to  say  nothing  of  the  injury  to  the  road, 
wagon,  harness  and  team. 

The  writer  remarks  that  the  cost  of  movement  for  this  short 
distance  "  was  more  than  the  product  was  worth,  and  put  a  stop 
to  the  business."  This  instance  exemplifies  a  general  law  in 
regard  to  increasing  facilities  of  transportation  by  reducing  the 
resistance  and  cost. 

15.  Another  writer  estimates  the  economy  of  good  roads  as 
follows  :  In  Pennsylvania,  the  estimated  number  of  horses  Jan- 
uary, 1888,  was  94,297,  and  the  average  price  was  $105.46.  The 
average  life  was  twelve  years,  and  if,  by  better  roads,  but  one 
more  year  were  added  to  his  life,  it  would  effect  a  saving  of 
$49,776.87;  or,  otherwise,  the  value  of  the  horses  being  $9,955,- 
374,  the  legal  interest  on  this  sum  for  one  year  is  $597,322.44, 
and  one-twelfth  of  this  principal,  or  $829,614.63,  is  the  annual 
loss.  Prolonging  his  life  one  year  would  save  the  interest  on 
this  amount,  or  $49,776.87.  A  similar  computation  for  the 
saving  upon  mules,  putting  their  life  at  20  years,  gives  $3,391.44. 
The  interest  on  this  total,  amounts  to  $3,190.09,  which,  added  to 
the  principal,  gives  a  total  of  $56,358.40. 

The  census  of  1880  gave  the  farm  products  of  Pennsylvania 
as  6,500,000  tons,  half  of  which  is  consumed  on  the  farms,  the 
balance  is  hauled  an  average  of  five  miles  to  market.  Assuming 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  245 

that  a  two-horse  team  makes  two  trips  per  diem,  at  a  cost  of 
$2.50  per  day,  the  cost  of  movement  on  clay  and  macadam  will 
vary  as  follows  : 

CLAY.  MACADAM. 

lyoad  for  two  horses,  .         .         .  1400  Ibs.  2180  Ibs. 

No.  of  loads  for  the  3,250,000  tons,     .     4,643,000    "      2,981,000    " 
Cost  at  $1.25  per  load,         .         .         .    $5,7O3>75O         $3.726,250 
Saving  by  reducing  surface  resistance,         .         .          $i.977,5oo 

This  is  the  waste  entailed  upon  the  farm  products  by  clay 
roads.  It  is  enough  to  keep  in  repair  30,000  miles  of  turnpike 
at  an  annual  cost  of  $66  per  mile.  Or  it  represents  831,000 
days'  labor,  which  might  be  employed  in  other  wealth-producing 
industries. 

Other  freights  would  swell  the  waste  to  $4,000,000.  In 
England  the  saving  between  well-kept  and  neglected  turnpikes 
is  estimated  to  be  $100,000,000,  which  represents  the  difference 
between  three  and  four  horses  for  a  load. 

The  estimated  loss  on  the  marketing  of  the  hay  crop  of 
940,000  tons  was  $1,560,000,  due  to  bad  roads,  while  the  total 
annual  losses  are  not  less  than  $6,000,000,  or  the  interest  on 
$100,000,000. 

The  road  tax  of  Allegheny  County  amounts  to  about  $140,- 
ooo  annually,  while  for  the  entire  State  it  is,  according  to  the 
best  estimate  obtainable,  about  $4,000,000.  What  have  we  to 
show  for  it  ? 


6.  To  get  rid  of  the  abominable  libels  dubbed  roads,  and 
reach  something  near  perfection,  ought  to  be  the  object  of  all 
true  legislation  on  the  subject. 

The  result  of  the  existing  mode  of  working  out  taxes  is  "  a 
lot  of  muddy,  treacherous  paths  denominated  roads,  dangerous 
to  life  and  limb,  and  causing,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  wear  and 
tear  of  vehicles,  and  extra  exertion  to  draught  animals,  the  loss 
of  thousands  of  dollars  more  than  would  make  and  maintain  a 
system  of  roads  equal  to  those  of  any  country  in  the  world." 


246  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

7.  Our  present  system  of  road  making  is  an  extravagant 
waste  of  money.  Almost  all  of  the  supervisors  of  our  public 
roads  .  .  .  are  the  offspring  of  corrupt  political  rings,  and 
but  few  of  them  know  anything  of  making  or  putting  in  shape 
a  good  road,  nor  do  they  care  or  know  how  to  economize,  nor 
get  a  fair  return  in  labor  for  the  money  paid  those  they  employ. 


11.  The  cost  of  any  kind  of  hard  surface  will  be  large,  and 
if  the  expense  has  to  be  borne  by  the  rural  population,  without 
aid  from  State  or  National  Government,  it  will  be  long  before  a 
general  improvement  is  effected. 

12.  Much  has  been  said  about  the  inability  of  our  supervi- 
sors ;  that  they  are  lacking  in  qualifications  and  experience,  and 
for  these  reasons  it  is  necessary  they  should  be  placed  under 
some  competent  authority  that  would  instruct  and  direct  them 
in  the  proper  fulfillment  of  their  duties.     Such  an  arrangement 
might  be  well  were  it  not  that  taxes  for  road  purposes  have 
about  reached  their  highest  point,  and  any  increased  expenditure 
during  the  present  depression  of  farming  industry  would  not 
only  be  burdensome  but  oppressive.     California  assesses  a  road 
tax  of  two  dollars  against  every  male  inhabitant,  and  this  tax  is 
collected  from  every  employer,  who  is  given  a  tax  receipt  for 
every  male  employe. 

17.  It  is  estimated  that  every  half  hour  lost  in  consequence 
of  bad  roads  is  worth  $72  per  year  for  a  single  one-horse  team. 


1 8.  The  greatest  enemy  of  all  roads  is  water.  Frost  is  an 
enemy,  but  only  as  it  acts  on  the  water  in  the  roadbed.  Heat 
is  an  enemy  by  expanding  the  particles,  admitting  the  entrance 
of  water.  Collision  and  friction  are  the  remaining  enemies.  .  . 
Thousands  of  dollars  are  wasted  every  year  in  throwing  broken 
stone  into  wet  roadways.  The  mechanical  strength  of  the  road- 
way has  rarely  been  considered,  though  it  is  an  important  factor 
in  many  cases 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  247 

There  is  no  person  but  in  some  direct  or  indirect  man- 
ner is  pecuniarily  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  a  good  road. 
It  is  important  that  this  fact  should  not  be  lost  sight  of,  as  the 
practice  that  has  led  to  turnpikes  and  toll  gates,  placing  the  cost 
wholly  on  those  with  vehicles  passing  through  the  gates,  is  man- 
ifestly unfair.  In  some  way  improved  roads  should  be  made  a 
charge  on  the  whole  community.  .  .  .  The  proper  method 
should  be  that  the  township  or  county  should  be  authorized  to 
contract  highway  loans,  and  abutting  property  should  be  assessed 
just  sufficient  as  a  highway  tax  to  pay  interest  and  the  sinking 
fund  for  the  final  extinction  of  the  loan.  The  increased  income 
from  taxation,  due  to  appreciation,  will  cover  the  cost  of  mainte- 
nance. .  .  .  For  construction  and  care  of  roads  the  contract 
system  is  the  best,  provided  it  be  not  by  the  square  yard,  nor 
by  day's  labor. 

22.  Macadam  or  "turnpike"  makes  the  best  and  most  dura- 
ble  road  that  can  be  obtained,  but  rather  expensive  in  some 
localities,  owing  to  the  dearth  of  the  kind  of  stone  suita- 
ble for  the  purpose ;  but  where  limestone  is  plentiful,  or  any 
kind  of  stone  that  is  not  too  hard  to  pulverize  and  cement 
together,  will  do  for  the  first  coating  or  bed  of  the  road.  Many 
persons  favor  raising  money  by  county  bonds  at  a  low  rate  of 
interest,  but  we  believe  the  work  can  be  done  more  economically 
by  stock  companies.  If  the  county  were  to  build  the  roads  at 
$2000  per  mile  on  money  at  4  per  cent.,  the  interest  would  be 
$80  per  rnile,  which,  with  the  $60  required  to  keep  it  in  repair, 
would  cost  annually  $140.  This  would  embarrass  farmers,  and 
depreciate  the  value  of  their  farms.  Neither  would  it  be  desir- 
able for  the  counties  to  collect  tolls,  as  it  would  lead  to  political 
corruption.  The  best  way  would  be  to  authorize  private  stock 
companies,  in  which  the  counties  should  take  from  two-fifths  to 
nine-twentieths  of  the  shares.  Residents  can  work  out  their 
shares  of  stock  very  cheaply,  and  if  the  road  only  paid  2  per 
cent,  dividends,  the  increased  facilities  and  value  of  property 


248  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

would  amply  repay  the  investors.  They  would  take  more  inter- 
est in  the  roads,  select  officers  for  their  fitness  and  integrity, 
and  no  one  would  suffer.  Such  improvements  would  save  at 
least  one  horse  annually,  equivalent  to  a  4  per  cent,  invest- 
ment on  $600  or  $1000.  As  to  the  county,  if  the  road  paid  div- 
idends equal  to  her  interest,  the  road  would  cost  her  nothing. 


23.  Repairs  should  be  contracted  for  on  terms  of  from  five 
to  ten  years,  to  give  the  contractor  an  opportunity  to  provide 
suitable  machinery. 


28.  There  are  places  where  it  would  be  cheaper  to  change 

the  road  so  as  to  go  around  the  hill  instead  of  over  it 

Many  miles  are  so  low  in  the  middle  as  to  serve  as  gutters. 
The  only  remedy  on  side  hills  is  to  fill  with  solid  material. 
.  .  .  .  Large  stones  dumped  into  a  road  are  always  a  nui- 
sance. It  is  always  within  reach  of  each  of  the  supervisors  to 
make  thoroughly  good  roads  with  stone  or  gravel,  at  least  half 
a  mile,  each  year.  In  soft  places  twelve  inches  of  metaling 
would  be  barely  sufficient,  while  on  solid  ground,  such  as  our 

red  shale,  six  to  eight  inches  would  be  enough It 

would  be  true  economy  to  abandon  wood  for  bridging  as  rapidly 

as  possible To  borrow  money  for  roads  is  not  good 

policy.  Supposing  a  pike  of  reduced  width  could  be  built  for 
$1500  per  mile,  and  that  fifty  miles  should  be  made,  at  that  rate, 
costing  $75,000.  The  interest  on  that,  at  4  per  cent.,  would  be 
$3000.  The  repairing  on  that  at  $40  as  a  minimum  would  be 
$2000.  There  would  still  be  left  fifty  miles  of  this  township  to 
be  repaired  at  the  present  rate  ot  $35  per  mile,  $1750,  which 
would  make  a  yearly  expense  of  $6750,  without  allowing  for 
sinking  fund,  or  over  six  and  one-half  mills  per  dollar,  with  a 
local  debt  of  $75,000.  With  such  a  burden  of  tax  the  roads 
would  be  neglected,  and  a  poor  turnpike  is  a  bad  road  all  the 
year  round,  while  a  good  dirt  road  is  preferable  to  almost  any 
pike  nine  months  of  the  year. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  249 

Road  officers  should  be  elected  for  three  years  instead  of 
two,  as  now.  Road  districts  should  be  allowed  to  buy  land  con- 
taining suitable  material  for  road  purposes. 


30.  It  is  evident  to  all  who  honestly  desire  better  roads 
that  the  old  methods  are  entirely  inadequate  to  construct  good 
highways.  It  has  become  a  system  of  deceit  and  fraud.  No 
one  can  believe  that  the  supervisors  return  any  just  equivalent 
for  money  and  time  expended.  It  was  stated  at  the  recent 
agricultural  convention  "That  in  the  last  fifty  years  $200,000,000 
had  been  spent  on  the  roads  of  Pennsylvania,  and  that  $7,000,000 
are  now  spent  annually.  At  the  high  rate  of  $10,000  per  mile, 
this  would  build  700  miles  in  the  State,  or  about  ten  miles  in 
each  county.  The  time  and  labor  put  in  by  the  taxpayer  on 
roads  is  generally  a  double  loss  to  him.  From  $5000  to  $10,000 
are  levied  in  many  townships,  and  not  one  rod  of  road  is  per- 
manently built.  This  sum  is  lost  each  year  in  throwing  clay 
into  the  road,  which  works  back  to  clog  up  the  ditches.  A  low 
and  corrupt  state  of  moral  and  political  principle  is  created. 
.  .  On  an  average,  there  are  sixty  supervisors  to  each 
county,  most  of  whom  seek  the  office  for  the  money  to  be 
made,  very  few  with  the  higher  motive  of  improving  the  roads. 
.  .  .  .  The  utter  failure,  after  200  years,  to  build  good  roads 
under  the  present  system,  the  waste  of  so  many  millions  in 
that  time — sufficient,  if  honestly  used,  to  have  built  and  mac- 
adamized every  mile  of  road  in  the  State — ought  to  convince 
all  who  have  used  the  roads  that  they  have  not  been  properly 
made,  and  never  will  be,  under  this  system.  Under  the  present 
law,  supervisors  superintend  the  work,  levy  the  tax,  allow  the 
accounts,  even  their  own — there  being,  within  some  limits,  no 
check,  practically,  as  to  how  the  road  tax  may  be  expended. 
.  .  .  .  Roads  should  be  built  consecutively,  and  not  by 

patchwork If  properly  and  honestly  managed,  the 

reconstruction  of   the  roads   of   the   State  would  not  greatly 


250  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

increase  the   burden   of   the   property  holders,  and  would,  in 
many  respects,  improve  their  property. 


33.  A  permanent  road  may  increase  the  value  of  a  farm, 
yet  it  cannot  increase  its  productiveness ;  so  that  the  only 
immediate  benefit  will  be  from  less  cost  of  transportation. 
Farmers  say :  "  We  want  no  country  pikes,"  having  in  mind  the 
illy-constructed,  illy-repaired  pieces  of  pike  to  be  found  at  this 
time  in  all  rural  districts.  The  piking  of  roads  needs  State  aid 
and  supervision.  They  should  be  revised,  both  as  to  grade  and 
alignment,  by  juries  taken  from  adjacent  counties. 

36.  The  intelligence  displayed  in  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  our  public  thoroughfares  is  of  no  great  credit 
to  us  as  a  nation.  Of  all  civilized  countries,  America  can  lay 

claim  to  the  poorest  roads Some  of  our  richest 

mines  are  comparatively  valueless  because  the  roads  are  either 
entirely  wanting  or  so  poor  that  the  cost  of  transportation 
would  exceed  the  value  of  the  metal.  Many  luxuriant  crops  of 
perishable  fruits  and  vegetables  perish  because  there  is  no 
facility  of  rapid  transportation.  Until  within  a  few  years,  the 
cattle  of  the  Pampas  were  slaughtered  for  their  hides  and  horns, 
and  in  Spain  thousands  of  sheep  were  killed  annually  for  their 
fleece  only;  but  this  waste  has  been  largely  stopped  by  the 
construction  of  highways  and  railroads. 

Good  roads  affect  the  farmer  directly  by  carrying  his  pro- 
ducts and  merchandise  at  a  cost  which  decreases  directly  in 
proportion  as  the  road  becomes  better. 

Dense  population  and  manufacturing  industry  always  make 
a  good  market  for  farm  products,  and  by  roads  alone  these 
cities  and  towns  may  extend  themselves  indefinitely. 

A  report  of  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  says : 
"  By  the  improvement  of  our  roads  every  branch  of  our  agri- 
cultural, commercial  and  manufacturing  industries  would  be 
materially  benefited.  Every  article  brought  to  market  would 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  251 

be  diminished  in  price,  and  the  number  of  horses  would  be  so 
much  reduced  that   the  expense  of   ;£5,ooo,ooo   ($25.000,000) 

would  be  annually  saved  to  the  public In  short, 

the  public  and  private  advantages  resulting  from  the  improve- 
ment of  our  highways  would  be  incalculable." 

The  roads  of  New  England  and  the  Middle  States  are  far 
from  being  satisfactory  as  to  their  location,  direction  and  con- 
struction. They  pass  through  places  that  offer  the  greatest 
resistance  to  economic  traffic 

SUGGESTIONS   AND    CRITICISMS. 

2.  The  money  raised  for  making  roads  must  be  used  for  that 
purpose,  and  the  majority  of  it  should  not  go  into  the  pockets 
of  surveyors,  lawyers,  inspectors  and  contractors.  Enough 
money  is  collected  to  put  the  roads  in  good  order,  but  in  many 
places  the  effect  of  the  work  is  not  visible,  and  in  others  it 
were  better  if  they  had  been  left  to  nature. 

The  highways  should  be  in  charge  of  a  committee,  and 
there  should  be  no  more  plowing  up  of  the,  sides  and  making 
of  cultivated  patches.  The  mud  should  be  removed  from  the 
ditches,  and  a  good  coating  of  gravel  should  be  spread  over  the 
roadbed.  We  need  good  gravel,  common-sense  and  govern- 
ment aid. 


3.  The  National  Government  should  issue  bonds  for  the  con- 
struction of  roads,  and  the  supervisors  should  be  elected  as  at 
present. 

4.  The  model  road  would  consist  of  two  flat  tramways  ot 
iron  eighteen  inches  broad  by  one-quarter  of  an  inch  thick. 

5.  The  principal  cities  should  be  connected  by  macadamized 
roads  thirty-six  feet  wide,  built  and  maintained  by  the  State. 
The  counties  should  build  similar  roads  twenty-four  feet  wide ; 
the  townships,  eighteen  feet  wide,  half  of  the  width  being  met- 


252  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

aled.  These  roads  should  be  laid  out  and  supervised  by  com- 
petent State  and  county  officers,  and  be  constructed  of  the  best 
and  cheapest  material  on  hand,  and  by  contract. 

6.  Let  the  county  commissioners  or  the  court  appoint  a 
road  commissioner,  and,  with  a  tax  laid  on  every  citizen  of  the 
county,  let  him  build  a  good  durable  road,  and  have  power  to 
abandon  such  as  are  difficult  to  keep  up  or  are  not  necessary 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  public.  The  law  should  state 
explicitly  the  material,  width,  wages  per  diem,  and  make  it  a 
penal  offence  for  any  political  influence  or  intrigue  to  enter  into 
any  appointment.  There  should  be  sub-commissioners  appointed 
in  each  township,  whose  work  should  be  approved  by  the  com- 
missioners. 


7.  It  would  be  sheer  folly  to  attempt  to  enforce  the  con- 
struction of  macadamized  roads,  because  the  great  portion  of  the 
country  is  entirely  destitute  of  limestone  (the  only  stone  that 
would  make  a  good  macadam  road). 

Have  the  election  of  supervisors  by  vote  of  the  people 
entirely  abolished,  and  let  the  appointing  power  be  placed  in  our 
courts,  making  it  imperative  with  the  judges  to  appoint  none  but 
men  of  known  reputation  and  ability,  having  some  practical 
knowledge  of  their  work.  There  should  be  one  or  two  supervi- 
sors to  each  township,  who  should  be  allowed  a  liberal  per  diem 
and  be  required  to  furnish  and  select  their  own  implements  and 
employes,  to  fix  wages,  to  assess  and  collect  the  road  tax,  and 
inflict  a  penalty  for  extra  heavy  hauling  while  the  ground  is  soft 
and  full  of  water.  Bonds  should  be  required. 


8.  Do  not  put  logs  in  a  new  road ;  nor  cover  a  sluice  with 
small  stones ;  remove  all  roots  and  stumps  ;  apply  the  stones  in 
thick  layers  and  let  them  be  well  broken  ;  do  not  allow  the  road 
to  be  ruined  by  a  rain  or  flood  when  an  hour's  work  will  turn  the 
water. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  253 

9.  The  present  way  of  working  out  taxes  is  entirely  wrong, 
and  should  be  abolished.  A  road  supervisor  should  be  appointed 
for  each  county  with  power  to  employ  assistants  for  each 
district. 


10.  A  law  should  be  passed  requiring  all  road  tax  to  be  paid 
in  money  collected  as  other  taxes.  The  State  should  pay  one- 
half  of  all  road  tax.  One  or  more"  road  masters  should  be 
appointed  in  each  township  by  the  judge  of  the  court,  by  peti- 
tion from  the  citizens,  to  serve  for  three  years  ;  to  give  bond  and 
be  return  able*  for  neglect  of  duty. 

10.  All  main  roads  should  be  forty  feet  wide,  thirty-two 
between  gutters  ;  all  other  roads  thirty-three  feet  wide,  twenty- 
five  feet  between  gutters  and  four  feet  foot-walks  on  either  side. 


ii.  Pennsylvania  roads  are  laid  out  two  rods  wide,  but 
it  is  doubtful  if  one-half  of  their  length  exceeds  twenty-five  feet 
in  width.  Property  taxable  for  State  purposes  is  wholly  exempt 
from  paying  road  taxes.  This  seems  inequitable.  Real  estate 
is  taxed  for  county,  school  and  road  purposes  to  an  extent 
in  each  case  equal  to  the  State  tax  on  personal  property.  This 
should  be  more  equitably  distributed. 

The  State  and  National  Government  might  with  propriety 
be  asked  to  aid  in  building  roads  as  well  as  improving  rivers  or 
assisting  the  railroads. 

The  township  officers  should  be  authorized  to  issue  bonds 
clear  of  taxes,  if  desired,  to  build  roads  and  provide  the  neces- 
sary machinery.  There  should  be  two  supervisors  to  each  town- 
ship. No  civil  engineer  will  be  necessary. 

12.  Old,  obstructive  road  laws  should  be  repealed  and  new  ones 
enacted  that  would  enable  our  supervisors  to  enforce  the  author- 
ity necessary  for  the  fulfillment  of  their  many  duties.  They 
should  be  elected  for  a  longer  term  than  one  year,  and  not  be  in 
fear  of  being  defeated  by  the  votes  of  near-sighted  tax  payers 


254  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

who  will  not  see  that  the  annual  cost  of  maintaining  poor 
roads  is  more  expensive  than  improved  ones.  Give  them  full 
power  to  select  their  employes.  .  .  .  Let  them  organize 
themselves  as  a  board,  holding  monthly  meetings,  with  the  town 
clerk  as  secretary. 

The  proposition  to  grant  State  aid  is  attended  with  many 
difficulties,  because  of  the  Constitutional  prohibition  to  special 
legislation,  which  would  prevent  enterprising  townships  that 
would  be  willing  to  guarantee  a  just  expenditure  of  such  aid 
from  so  doing  because  of  the  non-concurrence  of  others.  This 
may  be  overcome  by  the  board  of  supervisors  making  a  certified 
statement  before  a  judge  of  the  court  that  they  have  expended 
10  per  cent,  or  more  of  the  road  tax  in  permanently  improving 
certain  roads  in  their  district,  and  thus  entitling  them  to  draw  a 
like  amount  from  the  State  treasury  to  be  expended  in  a  similar 
manner.  It  may  be  well  to  have  a  State  superintendent  of 
roads,  whose  duty  shall  be  to  advise  and  recommend  necessary 
regulations  and  adjust  disputes  between  contiguous  districts. 

17.  The  interest  of  every  good  citizen  and  every  corpora- 
tion are  identical  in  having  good  roads,  consequently  the 
expenses  entailed  in  their  construction  and  maintenance  should 
be  fairly  apportioned Without  the  aid  of  a  practi- 
cal civil  engineer  any  efforts  for  permanently  improving  public 

roads  will  be  worse  than  useless All  the  present 

road  laws  should  be  repealed,  and  new  laws  enacted  dividing  the 
State  into  districts ;  a  practical  engineer  should  be  appointed 
by  the  Governor  after  examination,  with  a  competent  salary. 
He  should  appoint  his  own  assistants  in  charge  of  townships. 

The  tax  should  be  paid  in  money,  hauling  or  material,  for 

which  vouchers  should  be  given  by  the  engineer It 

would  be  useless  to  pass  a  law  specifying  any  particular  system 
of  road  making  for  the  entire  State,  but  it  should  regulate  the 

width  and  grade Heavy  teams  should  be  made  to 

use  wide  tires. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  255 

No  one  should  think  of  referring  this  matter  (road  construc- 
tion) to  the  legislature.  What  does  the  average  member  know 
or  care  about  the  roads  of  the  Commonwealth  ?  The  Act  of 
June  2d,  1887,  authorized  the  condemnation  and  vacation  of 
turnpikes,  and  relegated  them  to  the  care  of  the  borough, 
to  be  kept  "up  as  other  public  roads  or  streets."  That  means 
to  cover  them  with  dirt  and  revert  them  back  to  what  these 
roads  were  before,  and  even  much  worse.  In  one  case  the  super- 
visor attempted  to  keep  up  the  turnpike  by  hauling  a  few  loads 
of  stone  thereon,  and  was  in  consequence  defeated  at  the  next 
election.  The  citizens,  it  seems,  are  unwilling  to  be  taxed  for 
any  kind  of  road  making.  Thus  because  some  single  turnpike 
had  to  be  condemned  the  entire  commonwealth  was  burdened 
with  this  foolish  law. 

But  there  is  need  of  improvement,  and  the  people  should  be 
educated  through  the  schools,  where  the  children  should  be 
shown  the  defects  of  our  existing  roads,  and  be  taught  how  to 
remedy  them.  There  are  arbor  days,  why  not  have  road  days  ? 
.  .  .  Turnpike  roads  are  enterprises  undertaken  by  chartered 
companies.  As  a  question  of  economy  the  State  ought  not  to 
build  or  authorize  townships  or  counties  to  construct  them. 
Under  the  best  private  management  but  comparatively  few  make 
more  than  a  common  profit  of  from  4  to  6  per  cent.  The  cost 
of  maintenance  is  far  greater  than  is  generally  supposed — $200 
per  mile  per  annum  is  about  the  average,  while  the  original  cost 
of  construction  is  about  $5000.  .  .  . 

Between  the  Telford  and  macadam  systems,  the  Telford  is 
the  better.  The  only  difference  is  that  Telford  starts  the 
foundation  with  large  stones  while  macadam  breaks  them  small. 
The  large  stones  form  a  barrier  against  heavy  teams  cutting 
through,  especially  in  wet  seasons  or  when  the  frost  comes  out 
of  the  earth.  All  the  old  turnpikes  from  Philadelphia  were  con- 
structed in  this  way,  and  they  have  a  solid  bottom  and  maintain 
their  integrity  much  better  than  the  modern  ones  built  on  the 
macadam  plan,  and  they  cost  less  for  repairs. 


256  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

1 8.  There  are  no  roads  in  Pennsylvania  which  either 
Mr.  MacAdam  or  Mr.  Telford  would  be  willing  to  accept  as  rep- 
resenting their  modes.  MacAdam  formulated  the  proposition 
that  the  wear  of  roads  is  proportioned  to  the  weight  and  velocity 
of  the  carriage  running  upon  a  given  breadth  of  the  tire  of  the 
wheels.  From  which  his  practical  deduction  was,  that  a  road  to 
be  good  should  have  a  smooth  solid  surface,  so  flat  that  a  car- 
riage might  stand  upright ;  the  stones  should  not  exceed  one 
inch  in  any  of  their  dimensions. 

Philadelphia  has  lost  enormously  by  looking  too  much  at 
the  mere  hardness  of  the  material,  and  too  little  at  its  small  size. 
The  House  of  Correction  stone  if  broken  to  the  true  MacAdam 
size  would  make  a  very  suitable  material. 


20.  It  would  not  be  advisable   to  macadamize  our  country 
roads  under  existing  conditions.     The  cost  is  generally  placed 
at  too  low  a  figure.     If  the  main  roads  are  to  be  metaled  the 
State  should  take  the  matter  in  hand.     .     .      For  many  years  to 
come  our  main  dependence  must  be  dirt  roads,  which  must  be 
properly  improved  by  being  graded,  drained,  harrowed,  rolled  and 
honed  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  proper  manner.     .     .     It  is 
quite   certain   that   our  road   laws   must   be  radically  changed 
before  any  improvement  can  take  place.     .     .     Roads  must  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  engineers — men  educated  for  the  busi- 
ness.    Europe  has  good  roads  because  they  are  built  and  main- 
tained by  engineers. 

21.  Most  decidedly  the  farmers  ought  not  to  build  stone 
roads  without  State  aid.     .     .     Should  there  be  a  commission 
appointed,  engineers,  or  superintendent  of  public  highways,  so 
as  to  have  uniformity  in  the  roads  ?    Emphatically,  No.     The 
farmers  are  already  burdened  enough  without  having  to  pay  for 
a  lot  of  useless  officers.     It  does  seem  paradoxical  that  what 
road  laws  any  farmer  of  any  brains  could  make  in  five  minutes, 
and  what  any  railroad  paddy,  who  could   pound  stone,  could 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  257 

execute,  were  not  made  long  ago.  What  do  we  elect  men  to 
the  legislature  for,  if  they  are  not  competent  to  give  us  a  road 
law  ? 

Our  roads  are  not  better  because  there  is  no  law  compelling 
the  commissioners  to  make  them  so.  They  should  be  required 
to  levy  a  tax  to  be  paid  in  money,  but  be  authorized  to  give  the 
farmer  a  rebate  on  taxes  for  all  stone  delivered  along  the  road- 
side during  the  year  at  a  price  per  perch,  and  if  they  wished  to 
work  they  should  be  paid  for  the  work  done,  and  not  for  the 
time  put  in.  Then,  as  each  mile  is  completed,  the  State  should 
pay  its  part. 


23.  In  the  country  sheet  asphalt  will  rot  in  about  ten  years. 
Proper  legislation  will  require  a  State  board  composed  of  a 
member  from  each  county.  The  county  should  also  be  divided 
into  districts,  with  a  supervisor  in  charge  of  each  to  look  after 
the  contractors.  The  roads  should  be  built  and  maintained  by 
a  State  tax. 


24.  To  make  a  good  road  only  requires  honest  work  with 
pick  and  shovel,  hammer  and  drill,  supplemented  with  horse 
and  cart  and  scraper,  as  may  be  required.  .  . 

The  road  law  of  1836,  with  some  local  changes,  is  the  law 
of  to-day.  It  is  exceedingly  comprehensive,  and  is  suited  even 
better  for  the  present  times  than  for  the  period  in  which  it  was 
enacted.  The  trouble  is  not  with  the  law,  but  with  the  people 
who  do  not  avail  themselves  of  its  advantages.  They  prefer  to 
ascend  hills  of  ten  degrees  slope  rather  than  help  to  pay  to  cut 
them  down  to  five  degrees,  as  the  law  requires  ;  to  drive  in  the 
mud  and  stick  in  ruts  rather  than  gutter  and  drain  the  road  ;  to 
make  the  width  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  rather  than  forty  or  fifty 
to  save  land.  Such  roads  are  just  narrow  enough  to  prevent 
them  from  being  effectually  made.  The  fault  is  not  with  the 
law,  but  with  the  people,  and  they  have  what  they  want  and  do 
not  complain. 


258  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

26.  The  system  of  working  out  the  road  tax  should  be  abol- 
ished, as  not  many  men  go  on  the  road  to  work  but  to  put  in 
time  and  get  credit  for  taxes.  It  is  said  of  a  certain  township 
that  it  pays  $2000  to  $2500  per  year,  and  the  roads  are  never  in 
decent  condition,  whereas  $1000  applied  in  the  proper  manner 
would  produce  much  better  results.  .  .  .  The  legislature  should 
appropriate  all  the  money  the  State  can  spare  for  roads.  If  one- 
half  the  losses  caused  by  bad  roads  were  applied  to  their  improve- 
ment, it  would  not  be  long  before  they  were  better. 


27.  Efforts  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  to  induce  the 
officers  to  stone  portions  of  the  roads,  with  some  success,  but 
when  the  tax  was  increased  to  do  more  than  the  absolutely  nec- 
essary repairing,   dissatisfaction  has   resulted  in  defeating  the 
re-election  of  the  officers. 

28.  State  aid  would  be  desirable  with  laws  to  make  it  available 
if  the  State  furnishes  the  money  and  would  construct  and  en- 
tirely keep  in  repair  leading  roads  in  each  township  or  county ; 
but  not  so  if  the  townships  were  required  to  furnish  the  money 
for  the  State  to  spend.  ...  A  law  is  needed  requiring  all  taxes 
to  be  paid  in  money,  so  that  the  road  officers  can  secure  the  best 
labor  in  the  market.  .  .  .  All  property,  real  and  personal,  should 
be  taxed  for  all  purposes  for  which  the  owner  receives  a  benefit. 
Land  in  our  township  is  now  taxed  from  ten  to  twelve  mills  per 
dollar  on  its  full  value.     Thus  the  farmer  pays  $120  while  the 
stockholder   pays    but  $30.      With    taxation   equalized,   a  law 
requiring  not  less  than  2  per  cent,  of  the  mileage  in  each  dis- 
trict improved  by  stoning  or  graveling  each  year  would  seem  to 
be  just. 


29.  In  defraying  the  cost  of  roads,  the  simplest  and  best 
method  is  to  assess  the  whole  cost  on  the  county,  taking  care  to 
improve  all  the  main  roads  at  the  same  time. 


30.  One  of  the  first  steps  in  the  improvement  of  the  roads 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  259 

will  be  to  remove  the  management  entirely  from  political  con- 
trol. Some  favor  State  aid,  but  those  who  remember  the 
$40,000,000  State  debt  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was 
created,  will  not  favor  this  plan.  In  any  case  the  property  owner 
must  pay  the  debt.  There  is  no  doubt  that  more  miles  of  road 
would  be  built  by  local  effort  than  by  State  assistance.  The 
State  money  would  become  political  plunder.  Local  jealousies 
would  spring  up  and  matters  would  be  made  worse  instead  of 
better.  .  .  . 

The  change  proposed  is  that  a  competent  person  should  be 
appointed  by  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  be  chief  engi- 
neer or  road  commissioner.  He  should  appoint  the  county  engi- 
neer of  roads  for  a  term  of  five  years.  These  should  give  bonds 
for  faithful  performance  of  duties,  and  have  entire  control  of 
county  roads  under  the  county  commissioners,  who  should  raise 
from  $25,000  to  50,000  in  a  county  every  year  to  be  expended  on 
roads.  The  townships  may  levy  a  tax  of  from  two  to  five  mills 
on  the  dollar  to  be  spent  on  township  roads  under  the  engineer. 


31.  I  would  build  the  roads  all  over  the  State  with  the 
money  of  the  State,  which  will  in  a  short  time  be  completely 
out  of   debt.     For  four  years   I  would  appropriate  $2,000,000 
annually,  and  after  that  a  much  larger  sum  to  be  divided  among 
the  counties  according  to  population. 

There  should  be  three  county  commissioners,  one  of  whom 
should  be  a  civil  engineer,  and  they  should  be  elected  by  a  con- 
vention. The  work  should  be  done  by  contract. 

32.  In  wet  seasons  our  roads  are  nearly  impassable,  because 
there  is  no  system  of  drainage  and  no  outlets  for  water,  and 
usually  the  centre  of  the  road  is  the  lowest  part  of  it.     The 
only  thing  they  are  good  for  is  a  ditch  for  all  the  surrounding 

fields  to  drain  into The  legislative  feature  is  the 

keynote  for  good  roads.     The  present   supervisor  should   be 
buried  and  forgotten.     He  has  been  one  of  the  most  indepen- 


260  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

dent  and  powerful  of  county  officers.  No  action  of  his  could 
be  questioned ;  his  books  could  not  be  seen  without  a  criminal 
proceeding  in  court.  He  has  been,  in  most  instances,  a  farmer, 
with  his  farm  to  look  after.  His  election  depended  on  his 
money  and  popularity,  not  on  his  ability.  His  term  is  one 
year.  His  salary  is  not  fixed ;  he  has  a  commission  on  the  road 
tax  he  is  able  to  collect,  and  gets,  besides,  $2.00  per  day  when 
on  the  road,  and  $1.50  for  his  horse.  His  first  year  he  makes 
the  taxes  so  low  as  to  ensure  his  re-election,  but  in  his  second 
and  last  year  he  increases  them  100  per  cent.  His  salary  from 
this  source  varies  from  $500  to  $1000.  The  hired  laborers  are 
his  political  friends,  old  and  inefficient,  or  they  are  land  owners 
working  out  their  taxes.  He  will  not  work  on  the  roads  when 
his  farm  needs  his  services,  consequently  the  work  is  done  at 
the  worst  time  and  in  the  most  ineffective  manner,  or  not  at  all. 
With  such  supervision  and  wholesale  robbery,  is  it  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  our  roads  are  in  their  present  state  ? 

The  system  of  working  out  the  road  tax  is  all  wrong,  and 
should  be  abolished. 

The  State  should  build  the  roads,  levy  a  sufficient  tax  on 
property  and  a  poll  tax  of  from  three  to  five  dollars  on  all  not 
property  owners. 

Turnpike  companies  should  be  bought  out  by  the  State,  as 
the  principle  of  private  corporations  taxing  public  travel  is  all 
wrong,  or  else  they  should  be  compelled  to  maintain  a  certain 
standard  of  excellence.  The  Governor  should  appoint  engineers 
in  each  county  to  supervise  all  State  roads,  subject  to  a  State 
board  of  overseers. 


33.  I  o  maintain  our  earth  roads  in  a  passable  condition  we 
should  have  a  State  law  that  will  be  practical,  and  not  as  many 
different  laws  as  there  are  townships  in  each  county. 

The  great  trouble  with  our  present  system  is  not  that  the 
work  costs  too  much,  but  that  it  is  impossible  to  have  it  done 
when  it  should  be,  because  we  have  too  many  contractors  and 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  261 

too  many  incompetent  supervisors.  The  courts  should  appoint 
them  and  require  surety  for  the  faithful  performance  of  duties, 
giving  them  a  competent  salary.  The  man  who  will  work  for 
nothing  is  dear  at  his  board.  .  .  Make  all  road  taxes  payable 
in  money,  and  employ  road  laborers  continuously.  .  .  The 
county  should  prepare — that  is,  grade  and  drain  the  roadbed, 
which  may  cost  from  $500  to  $1500,  after  which  the  State  should 
put  on  the  macadam,  as  it  can  be  done  cheaper  in  large  contracts 
by  employing  machinery.  .  .  The  National  Government  should 
release  the  tax  on  whiskey  and  tobacco,  and  if  necessary  the 
State  could  collect  and  devote  it  to  roads.  Manufactured  arti- 
cles should  be  taxed  as  well  as  real  estate  and  live  stock.  After 
the  roads  are  built  the  counties  should  keep  them  in  repair. 


36.  The  present  method  of  raising  a  specified  sum  of  money 
for  roads  and  allowing  an  inexperienced  and  incompetent  person 
to  expend  the  same  is  erroneous.  The  highway  supervisor  is 
elected  without  the  first  thought  as  to  his  fitness  for  the  position. 
Often  the  care  of  the  roads  is  given  to  the  lowest  bidder,  and 
the  money  is  expended  before  half  the  year  has  expired  ;  again, 
a  large  part  of  the  money  is  spent  where  it  will  benefit  the 
backers  of  the  man  in  charge.  When  an  overseer  has  learned 
something  of  his  duties  another  takes  his  place  and  begins  his 
experience  at  the  expense  of  the  roads.  There  is  as  great  need 
of  civil  service  reform  in  these  matters  as  in  those  of  national 
politics.  The  right  man  should  be  retained. 

Not  less  than  three  road  commissioners  should  be  appointed 
in  each  town,  the  latter  being  divided  into  districts.  Every  three 
districts  should  have  one  commissioner,  who  should  examine 
the  roads  and  report  to  the  town  meeting.  The  repairs  should 
be  let  out  by  contract,  in  sections  of  not  more  than  five  miles 
each.  There  should  be  no  day's  labor  employed,  and  no  tax- 
payer should  be  permitted  to  work  out  his  taxes  on  the  road. 
The  tax  should  be  paid  in  money.  The  indolent  will  then  be 
obliged  to  contribute  his  share,  and  the  burden  will  not  fall 


262  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

upon  the  few.  The  old  system  is  wrong ;  and  good  roads,  con- 
venience, comfort  and  economy,  with  increased  happiness  of 
country  life,  demand  a  change. 

38.  The  present  system  of  working  roads  always  was  bad, 
and  the  longer  it  exists  the  worse  it  becomes,  so  that  it  should 
be  abandoned.  Education  is  necessary,  and  it  is  possible  that  in 
the  next  generation  we  may  have  better  roads.  .  .  A  suoer- 
vising  engineer  should  be  appointed  for  each  district. 

39-41.  Our  roads  should  be  divided  into  two,  if  not  three, 
classes,  ist.  The  main  roads,  which  should  be  maintained 
equally  by  the  State  and  counties  through  which  they  pass.  2d. 
County  roads.  3d.  Lateral  or  township  roads.  The  county 
roads  should  be  built  and  maintained  by  the  county  through 
which  they  pass,  while  the  township  roads  should  be  similarly 
sustained  by  the  township's  officers.  A  map  of  all  roads  should 
be  filed  in  the  county  clerk's  office,  and  the  board  of  overseers 
should  be  authorized  to  levy  a  tax  not  to  exceed  one-fourth  of 
one  per  cent,  of  the  assessed  value  of  the  taxables  in  the 
county,  or  if  preferred,  to  issue  bonds  at  a  low  rate  and  provide 
a  sinking  fund.  The  debt  should  not  exceed  3  per  cent,  of  the 
assessed  valuation. 

The  country  road  law  of  New  Jersey  puts  one-third  of  the 
cost  on  the  city,  town  or  borough  through  which  the  road  passes, 
and  two-thirds  on  the  county  at  large.  Convicts  and  tramps 
should  be  employed  in  breaking  stone  at  a  per  diem  and  under 
proper  supervision.  As  to  supervisors,  poor  pay  and  penurious 
treatment  will  weed  out  good  men,  if  they  happen  to  get  in,  and 
leave  the  roads  in  unskilled  hands.  They  should  be  nominated 
by  the  town  officials,  and  after  examination,  be  balloted  for  by 
the  people.  The  examination  should  consist  of  100  questions 
on  local  features,  road  laws,  road  making,  best  materials,  loca- 
tion, cost,  trees,  bookkeeping  and  mensuration. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  263 

40.  Important  points  to  be  observed  in  the  maintenance  of 
roads  :  i.  All  mud  and  dirt  should  be  removed  as  frequently  as 
possible ;  2.  The  entire  drainage  system  should  be  carefully 
maintained  ;  3.  Constant  repairs  wherever  ruts  or  depressions 
begin  to  show  ;  4.  Careful  sprinkling  three  or  four  times  a  day 
in  dry  weather  ;  5.  The  frequent  use  of  the  two-and-a-half-ton 
roller. 

Legislation.  I.  Abolish  the  present  system  of  working 
out  taxes  and  have  them  paid  in  cash  ;  2.  Each  county  should 
have  a  superintendent  of  roads,  either  appointed  or  elected  for 
a  term  of  years,  well  paid  for  his  services.  Each  township  a 
supervisor  subject  to  the  county  superintendent  ;  3.  The  road 
taxes  for  each  township  should  be  expended  by  the  supervisor 
subject  to  the  township  board.  He  should  be  under  bonds  ;  4. 
There  should  be  a  standard  set  of  specifications  for  all  the  roads 
of  the  State. 

43.  A  country  road  should  have  attention  when  the  weather 
is  favorable.  The  scraper  and  roller  should  be  freely  used  to 
destroy  ruts. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

The  roadbed  may  be  of  any  material,  exclusive  of  clay  and 
quicksand.  After  the  construction  of  the  bed,  curbstones,  four- 
teen to  sixteen  inches  high,  and  four  to  six  thick,  should  be 
placed  on  either  side,  and  the  space  between  them  set  with 
stones  nine  to  twelve  inches  high,  and  be  keyed  together.  Upon 
this  rough  pavement  should  be  laid  a  four  inch  layer  of  two  and 
a-half  inch  stones,  rolled  under  a  pressure  of  from  ten  to  twelve 
tons,  until  completely  settled.  A  second  layer  five  to  six  inches 
thick  of  two  inch  stones  should  then  be  added  and  compacted 
by  rolling.  Finally,  a  layer  one  inch  thick,  of  fine  stuff,  is 
spread  upon  the  top,  moistened  thoroughly  and  rolled  down 
smooth.  The  total  depth  of  this  metaled  surface  is  about  two 
feet.  No  estimate  of  the  cost  is  submitted. 


264  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

8.  A  cheap  road  for  heavy  traffic  may  be  made  by  preparing 
a  foundation  seven  feet  wide  and  twenty  inches  deep  of  broken 
stones,  and  covering  it  with  ten  inches  of  coal  ashes  or  creek 
gravel.     The  remaining  thirteen  feet  of  the  width  should  be 
carefully  freed  from  stones. 

For  small  bridges  of  ten  feet  span,  use  old  railroad  T  rails 
and  cover  them  with  flagstones  under  two  feet  of  earth  and 
gravel.  L 

9.  The  cheapest  and  best  way  of  making  a  good  road  is : 
1st.  To  deposit  a  layer  of  coal  ashes  ten  inches  deep  ;  2d.  A 
layer  of  broken  stone  eight  inches  thick ;   3d.  Succeeded    by 
another  stratum  of  coal  ashes  eight  inches  thick.     The  result 
will  be  a  dry,  clean  and  durable  road,  costing  nothing  for  mate- 
rial and  but  little  for  labor. 


10.  Where  macadam  is  used  the  stone  should   be  placed 
only  on  one  side  of  the  road,  and  the  earth  which  is  removed 
should  be  used  to  raise  the  other  side  and  to  fill  in  low  places, 
as  thorough  drainage  is  the  main  feature  in  road  making. 

11.  Earth  roads  may  be  much  improved  by  crowning  the 
road  with  a  good  scraper,  handled  by  a  team  and  two  men.     To 
construct  a  good  stone  surface  the  stones  should  be  broken  by  a 
crusher,  to  pass  through  a  one-inch  ring.     It  should  be  placed 
on  a  portion  of  the  surface,  say  twelve  feet  wide  and  six  inches 
deep  on  dry  soil,  with  greater  depth  when  required.     It  should 
not  be  screened,  but  deposited  as  it  leaves  the  crusher,  coarse 
and  fine    together,   to  form    a  compact  mass,  and   thoroughly 
rolled.     Hard  stone  is  preferred  when  procurable.     One  mile 
will  require  about  2000  perches  at,  say  seventy-five  cents  per 
perch  for  breaking  or  hauling  on  road. 

12.  The  old  process  of  throwing  the  sods  into  the  middle 
of  the  road  and  the  stones  under  the  fences  must  be  reversed 
if  we  would  have  good  roads. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  265 

14.  There  are  six  kinds  of  metal  which  make  very  good 
hard  roads,  viz. ;  (a)  stone  of  all  kinds  ;  (&)  gravel ;  (c}  sand  ; 
(d}  brush ;  (e)  straw ;  (/)  cornstalks  ;  each  of  which  has  been 
successfully  used  under  heavy  traffic.  .  .  .  The  roads  should  be 
22  feet  wide  having  grades  of  8  inches  to  the  rod  (=yj),  should 
be  properly  drained  and  made  hard.  After  draining  and  ditch- 
ing the  roadbed,  plow  up  the  bottom  4  inches  deep,  harrow 
fine,  put  on  a  layer  of  3^  or  4-inch  stone  closely  placed  but 
not  crowded ;  roll  with  a  5oo-pound  iron  roller  until  bedded.  Add 
a  layer  of  i^-inch  broken  stone,  6  inches  thick  ;  roll  down  even ; 
add  a  layer  of  coarse  sand  or  stone  dust  2  inches  thick. 

Where  quicksand  exists,  common  straw  may  be  used  to 
make  a  roadbed  when  nothing  else  will  do.  Dig  out  the  bed 
to  a  depth  of  4  feet ;  twist  the  straw  into  a  rope  of  say  3  inches 
as  iron  moulders  do ;  double  and  twist  again  until  the  rope  is 
about  i  foot  thick ;  lay  the  ropes  across  the  bed ;  cover  with 
dry  clay  or  sand  3  inches  thick  ;  then  another  layer  of  straw  rope 
followed  by  sand,  etc.,  until  the  trench  is  filled  to  within  6  inches 
of  the  top ;  finish  with  clay  or  other  material  at  hand. 


17.  In  some  sections  a  peculiar  sand  is  found  from  disin- 
tegrated limestone,  sometimes  micaceous  and  siliceous,  but  it 
makes  a  good  road  throughout  the  year. 

Each  township  should  be  provided  with  a  portable  stone- 
crusher,  horse  and  cart,  and  a  regular  force  of  laborers,  under  a 
competent  foreman.  All  work  should  be  done  by  contract.  .  . 
On  good  sustaining  ground  from  8  to  12  inches  of  metaling  will 
be  required,  broken  in  sizes  varying  from  2^  inches  at  the  bot- 
tom to  screenings  on  top.  They  should  be  rolled  down  on  a 
well-drained,  correctly-shaped  surface.  When  a  good  bed  cannot 
be  found,  then  Telford,  beginning  with  14-inch  stone  at  the  cen- 
tre, diminishing  to  8  inches  at  the  gutter  for  a  i6-foot  wide  road. 
Then  ram,  cover  with  sand  and  a  top  dressing  of  2}^  inches  of 
ballast,  then  a  layer  of  i^-inch  metal  and  i^  inches  of  screen- 
ings, each  to  be  rolled  separately  with  a  heavy  roller.  On  the 


266  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

average  country  road  macadam  will  be  found  the  cheapest  and 
just  as  durable,  and  it  need  not  be  over  8  feet  wide. 


1 8.  Stone,  broken  small,  as  a  true  macadam  requires,  arched 
over  the  natural  earth  with  proper  supports  at  the  sides,  would 
be  as  compact  and  strong  as  if  made  up  piece  by  piece  with 
brick  and  stone,  and  save  immensely  in  the  cost  of  the  expen- 
sive foundation  thought  to  be  essential  in  all  self-sustaining 
pavements.  But  always  provided  the  natural  surface  is  dry. 


21.  First-class  roads  should  be  10  feet  wide  and  I  foot 
deep,  filled  with  finely-broken  stone.  Second-class  roads  should 
only  be  8  feet  wide.  Never  allow  any  water  to  stand  on  the  road. 
For  third-class  roads,  round  them  up,  don't  make  them  too  wide ; 
keep  out  the  stones  and  you  have  very  good  roads  when  the 
weather  is  fine.  Macadamizing,  from  the  fact  that  stone  is 
most  abundant  of  al>  materials,  recommends  itself  as  being  the 
only  plan  whereby  we  may  have  good  roads  at  all  times. 


22.  The  turnpike  should  not  be  less  than  35  to  40  feet 
between  fences,  thus  permitting  room  for  a  drain  and  Summer 
road. 


23.  A  good  road  should  be  about  36  feet  wide.  There  is 
economy  in  making  the  roadbed  27  feet  wide  or  even  less.  The 
earth  should  be  i  foot  deep.  There  should  be  paved  gutters 
2  feet  wide  on  each  side.  Ballast  composed  of  loose  or  broken 
stone  8  or  10  inches  in  depth,  should  be  placed  over  the  entire 
bed  between  the  gutters,  and  the  remaining  depth  of  2  to  4 
inches  is  to  be  filled  with  small  broken  stone  or  clean,  screened, 
coarse  gravel,  rolled  and  covered  with  sharp  sand.  .  .  .  The 
farmers  have  more  stones  picked  off  their  fields  than  would  be 
needed,  and  of  such  sizes  as  would  make  a  good  ballast  of  2  to  3 
inches  cube,  with  smaller  stones  to  fill  in  the  middle  layers,  and 
crushed  stone  or  screenings  for  the  top  course. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  267 

24.  The  base  of  a  Telford  road  ought  to  be  graded  about  6 
inches  higher  in  the  middle  of  a  2O-f  eet  wide  roadbed,  the  larger 
of  large  stones,  8  inches  thick,  set  on  edge,  and  closely  com- 
pacted, then  8  inches  more  of  broken  stone  at  the  centre,  sloping 
to  4  inches  at  the  side.  To  make  a  complete  finish,  gravel  or 
very  fine  broken  stone  should  be  put  on  top  of  the  broken 
stone,  and  the  whole  surf  ace  rolled  with  a  1 5-ton  road-roller  until 
perfectly  level  and  solid.  .  .  . 

A  common  road  should  never  be  less  than  30  feet  wide,  of 
which  26  feet  should  be  graded,  leaving  2  feet  of  gutters  on 
either  side.  Ruts  should  be  filled  up  as  soon  as  may  be  practi 
cable,  by  using  an  improved  road  scraper. 

26.  To  make  a  good  road,  make  the  cross  section  of  the 
roadbed  concave,  with  a  slope  toward  the  centre  of  I  inch  in 
3  feet.  Then  make  a  drain  4  inches  deep  along  the  centre  of  the 
concavity,  and  lay  3-inch  tile  carefully  end  to  end  with  a  grade  of 
I  inch  to  a  rod.  It  should  run  out  every  300  feet  to  the  side 
drain.  Then  fill  up  the  roadbed  with  stone  till  it  becomes  con- 
vex, cover  this  with  3  inches  of  broken  stone  and  just  enough 
soil  to  make  it  smooth.  The  road  and  ditches  need  constant 
attention.  This  road  will  cost  from  $1000  to  $2000  per  mile. 


27.  Concerning  plowing  and  filling  up  the  public  roads  as 
customary,  from  i  to  10  inches  high  all  over,  I  consider  it  the 
greatest  nuisance  that  can  happen  to  it. 

29.  For  a  main  road  from  25  to  40  feet  is  sufficient,  and  for 
cross-country  roads  16  feet  will  answer. 

32.  For  a  main  thoroughfare  I  would  recommend  a  width 
of  30  feet  from  out-to-out  of  side  ditches,  and  for  a  cross  road  22 
to  24  feet  will  be  ample. 

There  are  two  well-known  systems  of  stone  roads.  The 
Telford  requires  greater  skill  and  more  care  in  making ;  conse- 


268  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

quently,  is  the  most  expensive  without  being  more  durable  or 
satisfactory.  The  macadam,  all  things  considered,  is  the  best 
suited  to  our  purpose,  and  is  everything  that  can  be  desired. 

A  lot  of  broken  stone  of  all  sizes  spread  three  or  four  inches 
deep  and  left  to  travel  to  pack,  will  never  be  satisfactory,  yet  this 
is  what  is  known  as  macadamizing.  In  his  latest  practice 
MacAdam  did  not  allow  any  stone  larger  than  a  cube  of  one-and- 
a-half  inches  or  two  inches  on  edge  to  be  used  ;  he  caused  splin- 
ters and  thin  slices  and  spalls  to  be  excluded,  and  laid  great 
stress  on  uniformity  of  size  and  freedom, from  dust,  sand  or 
earthy  matter.  It  has  been  proved  to  be  a  mistake  to  exclude 
the  smaller  fragments  and  detritus,  as  the  road  cannot  be  com- 
pacted into  a  smooth  hard  surface  by  rolling  or  by  traffic.  If 
the  forms  are  angular  and  of  all  sizes  below  the  maximun 
prescribed,  the  fragments  will  unite  more  firmly  and  very  little  if 
any  binding  material  will  be  necessary. 

For  very  hard  stone  a  two-inch  ring  gauge  is  sufficient,  but  for 
softer  varieties  a  two-and-a-half  inch  gauge  may  be  used. 
MacAdam  considered  ten  inches  of  well-compacted  materials 
enough  for  very  heavy  traffic.  In  this  country  of  severe  frosts 
the  standard  minimum  thickness  should  not  be  less  than  ten 
inches.  .  .  -  .  .  Except  in  large  towns  a  width  of  sixteen 
feet  for  metaling  will  suffice,  applied  in  the  centre  of  the  road, 

and  good  gravel  may  be  spread  over  the  wings Cross 

roads  may  be  made  excellent  if  covered  with  ten  inches  of 
gravel  applied  on  the  centre  of  the  road  for  a  width  of  ten  feet. 
It  should  be  coarse  but  not  to  exceed  one-and-a-half  inches,  and 
contain  enough  clayey  loam  to  bind  it  together  firmly.  Boiler 
ashes  may  be  used,  but  are  not  so  good  nor  durable. 

33.  We  want  first,  firm  beds  of  stone,  which  can  only  be 
obtained  by  hand  placing,  whether  we  use  the  macadam  or  pike, 
and  a  good  finish  of  hard  stone  firmly  broken,  that  the  roads  may 
be  alike  proof  to  the  action  of  wheels  and  water.  Very  few  sec- 
tions of  road  have  stone  hard  enough  for  top  dressing,  and  if  of 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  269 

medium  grade  they  will  soon  wear  into  ruts.  Single  track  may 
be  made  seven  feet  wide,  but  for  double  track,  always  to  be 
recommended,  they  should  be  sixteen  feet  wide. 

36.  For  purposes  of  draining,  the  road  should  have  a  grade 
of  at  least  I  foot  in  130,  and  the  greatest  slope  should  not  exceed 
I  in  35.  No  road  should  be  wider  than  is  necessary  for  the 
travel  over  it.  For  two  vehicles  to  pass,  the  width  should  be  at 
least  16%  feet,  but  it  is  far  better  to  increase  this  to  20  feet. 
The  surface  should  be  raised  above  the  general  level  of  the  sur- 
rounding land,  and  good  ditches  be  placed  on  either  side. 
Thorough  drainage  is  one  of  the  first  requisites  of  a  good  road. 

For  gravel  roads  the  material  should  be  dug  from  pits  and 
screened  so  as  to  separate  all  sizes  over  one-and-a-half  inches 
and  under  one-half  inch  in  diameter.  It  should  be  applied  in 
three  coats,  each  of  three  inches  thickness,  and  rolled 

, ^     Charcoal  Roads. — In  some  of  the  Western  States,   where 

wood  is  plenty,  roads  have  been  made  through,  swampy  forests 
as  follows  :  Logs  from  six  inches  to  two  feet  in  diameter  and 
from  twelve  to  twenty-four  feet  long  are  cut  and  piled  length- 
wise along  the  road  about  six  feet  high,  being  nine  feet  on  the 
bottom  and  two  on  top,  and  then  covered  with  straw  and  earth, 
or  simply  with  sods,  and  burned  in  the  manner  of  coal-pits.  The 
covering  is  taken  from  the  sides  of  the  road,  and  the  ditches  thus 
formed  afford  good  drainage.  After  the  timber  is  converted 
into  charcoal,  the  earth  is  removed  to  the  sides  of  the  ditch  and 
the  coal  drawn  each  way  having  a  gentle  slope  from  the  centre 
to  the  sides.  Such  a  road,  though  expensive,  is  very  durable, 
and  always  presents  a  smooth,  hard  surface. 

Plank  roads  should  be  made  of  twelve  by  twenty-four  inch 
sleepers  sixteen  feet  long  and  bedded  on  the  flat  side  three  or 
four  feet  apart,  filled  in  between  with  earth  beaten  or  rolled 
down  so  as  to  leave  no  air  spaces  underneath  the  planks.  These 
should  be  eight  feet  long  and  four  inches  thick,  preferably  of 
oak,  and  from  six  to  twelve  inches  wide,  laid  square  across  the 


270  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

stringers.      They  should  then  be  covered  with  a  coating  of  coal 
tar  and  an  inch  of  coarse  sand  or  fine  gravel. 

Stone  Roads. — If  the  bottom  consists  largely  of  clay  it  is 
better  to  apply  a  coating  of  several  inches  of  sand  or  gravel 
before  applying  the  road  metal.  Sometimes  a  close  floor  of 
boards  will  serve  as  well.  After  the  excavation  is  made  and 
drained,  broken  stone  is  laid  upon  the  prepared  bed  in  two  or 
three  layers  three  inches  thick  and  rolled  successively,  and  then 
a  coating  of  one  inch  of  sand  is  spread  over  the  top  and  rolled 
into  it  with  plenty  of  water.  Such  is  the  method  in  England. 
Some  consider  it  better  to  dispense  with  the  coating  of  sand. 
From  six  to  ten  inches  of  road  metal  is  a  proper  maximum  depth. 
No  large  stones  should  be  used.  The  proper  size  is  a  one- 
and-a-half  inch  cube,  or  two  inches  on  the  longest  diagonal, 
broken  by  hand  or  in  a  crusher. 

The  best  materials  are  the  basaltic  and  trap  rocks,  syenite, 
granite  and  some  limestone,  but  flint  or  quartz  rocks,  gneiss, 
mica — slate  and  sandstone  should  never  be  used. 

Earth  roads  are  full  of  defects.  They  contain  many  ruts, 
especially  in  clay  soil.  On  sandy  soil  six  inches  of  clay  will  be 
an  improvement.  In  filling  ruts  coarse  sand  or  gravel  should  be 
used  free  from  vegetable  mould.  Stones  should  never  be  used 
unbroken.  The  plow  and  scraper  should  never  be  used  to 
repair  a  road. 

The  full  width  should  not  be  less  than  forty  nor  more  than 
sixty  feet,  but  the  paved  portion  need  only  be  from  eighteen  to 
twenty-four  feet,  eighteen  feet  being  ample  for  the  majority  of 
country  roads. 

The  lateral  slope  of  the  surface  should  not  be  less  than 
one-half  nor  more  than  three-quarters  of  an  inch  to  the 
foot. 

For  the  top  dressing  of  Telford  pavements  granite  or  trap 
rock  will  be  found  to  give  entire  satisfaction.  Although  costing 
more  at  first,  it  is  much  cheaper  in  the  end  than  some  of  the 
softer  stones.  This  has  been  proven  beyond  a  doubt  by  prac- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  271 

tical  experience.     A  very  light  coat  of  clay  upon  this  covering 
will  be  found  advantageous  in  binding  it  together. 

For  the  macadam  road,  place  first  a  layer  of  broken  stone 
of  two-and-one-half  to  three  inches  in  size  for  a  depth  of  six 
inches  ;  cover  this  with  another  six-inch  layer  of  stones  broken 
to  one-and-one-half  to  two-inch  size,  thoroughly  rolled ;  then  a 
light  coat  of  clay,  followed  by  stone  screenings,  sprinkled  and 
thoroughly  rolled.  There  is  much  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
which  of  these  two  methods  is  the  best  for  a  general  road  pave- 
ment, but  there  should  not  be  to  anyone  who  has  watched  the 
results  of  heavy  travel  upon  Telford  and  macadam  when  laid 
on  similar  soil  and  under  similar  conditions.  It  will  be  found 
that  ruts  form  sooner  in  the  macadam  than  in  the  Telford  pave- 
ment, especially  in  the  Spring  of  the  year.  The  macadam  is 
excellent  for  light  travel,  but  is  not  equal  to  the  Telford  for 
general  traffic.  A  much  cheaper  road  than  either  can  be  made 
by  using  the  Telford  foundation,  and  covering  it  with  about  four 
inches  of  gravel  containing  sufficient  clay  to  make  it  pack  well. 
This  makes  a  hard,  smooth  surface,  is  easily  kept  in  repair,  and 
is  an  excellent  road  for  light  travel. 


43.  The  grade  should  not  exceed  six  feet  per  hundred,  nor 
be  less  than  one.  Where  the  subsoil  is  strong  loam  or  clay,  it 
should  receive  a  layer  of  iron  moulder's  sand  or  coal  ashes  to  a 
depth  of  about  two  inches.  Good  gravel  six  inches  deep  will 
greatly  improve  the  road.  All  loose  stones  should  be  picked  off 
and  used  for  macadamizing  the  worst  portions. 

RELATIVE  COST  OF  MACADAM  VS.  TELFORD. 

Other  things  being  equal,  the  cheapest  road  will  be  the 
best,  but  it  is  often  a  difficult  problem  to  determine  how  much 
more  may  be  expended  on  the  first  cost  of  a  road  that  its  ulti- 
mate expense  for  maintenance  may  be  a  minimum.  Upon  this 
point  there  is  great  difference  of  opinion,  and  the  tendency  of 
popular  opinion  is  to  lean  toward  the  lesser  first  cost,  even  if 


272  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

the  road  does  require  a  larger  outlay  to  maintain  it  in  passable 
order.  While  this  policy  is  not  always  the  best  nor  most  eco- 
nomical, it  is  often  necessary  to  secure  any  improvement  what- 
ever. 

For  the  more  ready  comparison  of  the  cost  of  these  sys- 
tems, the  prices  as  given  by  the  several  contributors  are  ar- 
ranged in  parallel  columns : 

MACADAM.  TELFORD. 


15.  One  mile,  30  feet  wide,  and  14 
inches  deep  in  centre,  from  $7000  to 
$9000,  according  to  material  and  dis- 
tance. With  a  good  old  foundation, 
it  would  cost  $3500  to  $4000. 


One  mile,  20"  deep,  in  layers, 
with  good  rolling,  can  be  made  for 
$5000  to  $7000,  according  to  material 
and  distance.  On  an  old  foundation 
it  would  cost  from  $3000  to  $3500. 


A  macadam  road  is  the  best  road,  and,  being  the  best,  it  is 
the  cheapest. 

Estimate  for  roads  thirty  feet  wide,  fourteen  inches  deep 
at  centre,  with  one  yard  of  borders  in  grass  and  two  sidewalks 
six  feet  wide  : 


MacAdam  would  cost,    ....  $9,236 
If  on  old  foundation  k     ....    6,686 
but  with- 


Telford, $8,236 

"       old  foundation,      .    .    .    5,686 
Telford,  sans  accessories,      .    .    3,000 


out  walks,  border,  etc.,     .     3,350 

Resurfacing  every  sixth  year,  $900  per  mile. 


track,  8  feet 


17.    One  mile,   single     r  $    800  ($2,500 

*  One  mile,  single  track,   .    . 

i, I     1,200 

COST   OF    OTHER   ROADS. 


6,000 


15.  A  good  road,  with  a  surface  of  gravel  laid  on  ten 
inches  of  stone,  with  two  side  drains,  can  be  built  for  $2500  to 
$3000  per  mile. 

With  one  side  drain  and  eight  inches  of  broken  rock,  the 
road  would  cost  from  $1500  to  $2500  per  mile. 

17.  One  mile  of  plank  road,  good  for  eight  years,  $1000  to 
$3400. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  273 

1 8.  In  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  and  near  stone  quarries 
and  crushers,  the  cost  of  making  the  ordinary  stone  road  is 
about  $1.00  per  square  yard.  As  such  roads  are  constructed 
near  the  city,  having  Belgian  block  gutters  for  drainage  and 
flag  crossing-stones  every  two  or  three  hundred  feet,  the  first 
cost  of  these  pseudo-macadam  roads  is  nearly  $2.00,  and  then 
brick,  as  a  mere  question  of  first  cost,  can  successfully  compete 
with  it.  A  dollar  a  square  yard  is,  however,  probably  all  the 
generality  of  property  could  stand  under  a  general  road  law. 
But  the  enormous  cost  of  repairs  to  these  roads  must  not  be 

lost  sight  of The  brick  used  in  Philadelphia  has  to 

be  brought  by  rail  300  to  400  miles.  If  it  costs  a  dollar  a 
square  yard  for  broken  stone,  that  requires  an  annual  attention 
that  doubles  its  cost  in  ten  years,  while  if  the  brick  road  will 
last  twenty-five  years  without  showing  any  material  wear,  at 
$1.50,  $1.75  or  even  $2.00  a  square  yard,  it  requires  no  demon- 
stration to  determine  which  is  the  better. 


21.  I  am  confident  that  a  stone  road  such  as  is  described 
(ten  feet  wide  by  one  deep),  in  counties  where  stone  is  abundant, 
would  not  cost  over  $1.50  per  lineal  rod. 

22.  The  cost  of  building  a  turnpike,  including  grading,  cul 
J  verts,  bridges,  toll-houses,  etc.,  varies  from  $1500  to  $2000  per 

,  mile,  taking   all  things  into  consideration,  together  with  the 
;   difficulty  of  obtaining  stone  at  all  points. 


23.  The  cost  of  a  stone  road  with  paved  gutters  would  be 
eighty  cents  per  square  yard,  one  foot  deep  exclusive  of  arches 
and  bridges,  the  masonry  of  which  would  cost  about  eight  cents 
per  cubic  foot,  complete.  Repairs  would  cost  about  $25  per 
mile. 


28.  In  a  township  containing  about   100  miles  of  public 
roads  the  average  cost  of  annual  repairs  for  ten  years  past  was 
18 


274  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

$3500,  and  the  rate  of  taxation  on  the  full  value  of  the  land 
y/2.  mills.  There  is  an  excellent  turnpike  crossing  .the  town- 
ship, about  five  miles,  which  cost  $3000  per  mile  forty  years 
ago,  and  which  requires  an  average  expense  of  $80  per  mile, 
exclusive  of  salaries,  to  keep  in  repair. 


29.  A  good  macadam  road  fourteen  inches  deep  can  be 
built  for  $7000  per  mile.  The  interest  of  that  amount  at  5  per 
cent,  is  $350,  while  the  cost  of  maintenance,  including  material, 
watering  and  labor,  would  not  exceed  $400  per  annum — a  total 
of  $750  per  mile.  This  amount  would  be  very  light  indeed,  and 
in  the  enhancement  of  land  values  would  be  returned  ten-fold. 


30.  The  expense  will  run  from  $1000  to  $10,000  to  thor- 
oughly build  and  macadamize  one  mile  of  road. 

32.  As  to  cost,  it  is  impossible  to  give  any  correct  figures. 
It  can  only  be  said  that  it  is  always  more  economic  in  the  long 
run  to  use  the  best  material  and  follow  the  best  plan. 

40.  The  cost  of  earth  excavation  will  vary  from  sixteen  to 
thirty  cents  per  cubic  yard  ;  rock  excavation  from  fifty  to  seven- 
ty-five cents.  Stones  suitable  for  a  Telford  foundation  can  be 
quarried  and  delivered  for  $1.00  per  cubic  yard,  or  for  an  eight- 
inch  foundation,  about  twenty-two  cents  per  square  yard.  Four 
good  pavers  can  readily  place  300  lineal  feet,  eighteen  feet  wide, 
per  day  (150  square  yards  per  man).  This  will  give  two  and 
one-third  cents  per  square  yard  for  laying  the  foundation. 

Broken  stone  can  be  delivered  for  $1.25  per  cubic  yard,  or 
about  fourteen  cents  per  square  yard,  four  inches  deep.  Allow- 
ing seven  cents  for  screenings,  sprinkling  and  roiling,  the  total 
cost  of  a  square  yard  of  Telford  pavement  will  be  forty-six  cents 
under  the  most  favorable  conditions.  The  limit  may  run  up  to 
ninety-five  cents.  This  does  not  include  grading,  draining, 
bridging,  etc.  There  is  comparatively  little  difference  between 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


275 


the  cost  of  a  Telford  and  macadam  road  of  the  same  depth.  A 
good  gravel  road  on  a  Telford  foundation  will  cost  about  thirty- 
five  cents  per  square  yard,  exclusive  of  grading.  For  recon- 
structing old  turnpikes  the  cost  will  be  from  thirty  to  forty-five 
cents  per  square  yard. 

FOREIGN  ROADS. 

French  roads  are  divided  into  national,  departmental,  mil- 
itary and  country  cross-roads.  The  national  roads  are  main- 
tained at  the  expense  of  the  Empire.  The  second-class  roads 
are  provided  by  the  departments  ;  the  country  roads  by  the  com- 
munes. 

In  1873  there  were  223  national  roads,  aggregating  23,180 
miles  in  length.  They  are  fifty-two-and-a-half  feet  wide,  of 
which  the  roadway  is  19.68  feet ;  sidewalks  19.68,  and  ditches 
and  embankments  13.12  feet. 

The  department  roads  are  thirty-eight  feet  wide  and 
embraced  29,167  miles.  Of  cross-roads  there  were  338,273  miles. 
France  covers  204,091  square  miles,  or  4.436  times  the  area  of 
Pennsylvania. 

36.  The  maximum  grade  allowed  on  the  French  roads  is  one 
in  twenty,  or  5  per  cent.  On  the  great  Holyhead  road  in  Wales 
it  is  limited  to  one  in  thirty  ;  but  there  are  two  places  where  it 
was  necessary  to  make  .it  one  in  twenty-two  and  one  in  seven- 
teen. On  the  roads  crossing  the  Alps,  at  the  Simplon,  Splugin 
and  St.  Gothard  Passes,  the  steepest  grades  are  one  in  thirteen. 
These  roads  are  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  wide..  In  Great 
Britain  the  width  as  fixed  by  law  varies  from  twenty  to  sixty 
feet. 

BENEFICIAL  RESULTS  OF  IMPROVED  ROADS. 

In  those  portions  of  Ohio  which  have  taken  advantage  of 
the  statute,  an  increase  of  50  per  cent,  in  value  is  not  uncom- 
mon, and  25  per  cent,  is  the  least  estimate  resulting  from  the 
improvements.  Moreover,  the  people  of  those  sections  would 
not  be  deprived  of  their  good  roads  at  any  price..  Nor  would 


276  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

they  consent  to  go  back  to  the  old  system  of  mud  roads.  They 
pay  their  'road  tax  cheerfully,  and  without  any  longing  for  the 
annual  picnic,  commonly  called  "working  the  roads,"  which 
they  formerly  regarded  as  an  inestimable  right.  "  We  find  it 
pays  to  macadamize  the  roads,  and  our  people  would  not  like  to 
be  restricted  to  a  tax  of  seven  mills,  because  we  sometimes 
want  to  spend  a  great  deal  more  than  that.  We  have  learned 
that  it  pays  to  make  good  roads,  no  matter  what  they  cost. 
Everybody  says,  '  if  you  will  make  the  roads  good,  we  do  not 
care  for  the  tax/  It  is  when  you  have  nothing  to  show  for  the 
money  expended  that  they  complain,  which  is  the  objection  to 
this  working-out  system." 

Any  enterprise  which  reduces  the  cost  of  transportation  40 
per  cent,  and  increases  the  value  of  land  from  25  to  50  per  cent, 
should  commend  itself  to  the  self-interest  of  every  farmer  in 
the  State.  It  would  be  difficult  to  devise  any  scheme  that  would 
contribute  so.  largely  to  the  general  prosperity  as  a  large  and 
immediate  outlay,  judiciously  expended  in  the  construction  of 
first-class  roads. 


26.  The  good  roads  benefit  all  classes,  for  when  they  are  in 
good  condition  there  is  a  rush,  and  when  they  are  poor  there  is  a 
scarcity.  This  state  of  affairs  has  a  bad  effect  on  the  business 
of  the  traders  as  well  as  on  the  pockets  of  both  producers  and 
consumers.  Many  farmers  having  a  choice  of  two  markets  will 
go  to  that  one  having  the  best  roads,  for  it  is  an  important  ques- 
tion to  them  whether  they  go  once  or  twice  to  carry  a  given 
load. 


36.  The  opening  of  the  great  military  road  by  Marshall 
Wade  through  the  Scottish  highlands  has  done  more  for  the 
civilization  of  that  region  than  the  preceding  efforts  of  British 
monarchs.  Estates  have  greatly  increased  in  value  and  annual 
returns  ;  former  wastes  are  now  producing  large  crops  of  wheat ; 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  277 

neat  farmhouses  and  herds  of  cattle  are  seen  where  was  once  a 
desert,  and  the  habits  and  morals  of  the  people  are  greatly 
improved.  .  .  By  the  opening  of  a  road  to  the  people  of 
Steinthal,  in  Alsace,  by  Oberlin,  a  wonderfully  moral  and  intel- 
lectual development  ensued.  The  Japanese  government  recom-  * 
mends  good  roads  to  promote  agriculture  and  civilization,  and 
the  Persian  Shah  is  pursuing  a  similar  policy. 


CONTRIBUTIONS  SUBMITTED  BY  KNOWN 
CORRESPONDENTS. 

A  number  of  papers  were  also  submitted  by  persons  inter 
ested  in  the  subject  over  their  own  signatures,  with  the  hope 
that  their  suggestions  might  be  of  some  service  to  the  public. 

Thus,  a  gentleman  from  Utica,  N.  Y.,  writes,  laying  great 
stress  upon  the  injurious  effects  of  water  on  earth  roads,  and 
urging  thorough  drainage  and  a  plan  for  compacting  the  surface 
so  as  to  render  it  waterproof  by  what  he  calls  "  the  principle  of 
compression."  That  is,  'he  would  first  "  moisten  the  earth  to  the 
proper  consistency  "  and  then  pass  over  it  low,  long  furnaces  or 
troughs,  having  fires  in  them,  to  parbake  the  earth,  which  should 
have  been  previously  thoroughly  rolled  by  fifteen  to  twenty-ton 
rollers.  The  estimated  cost  per  mile  is  only  $800. 


A  writer  living  at  Glen  Olden,  Delaware  County,  Pa.,  rec- 
ommends the  Telford  road  as  being  the  best,  attributing  the 
failure  of  many  old  pikes  to  imperfect  foundations.  He  believes 
that  "  nothing  would  increase  both  the  valuation  and  population 
in  Delaware,  Montgomery,  Chester  and  Bucks  Counties  so  much 
as  good  roads,"  which  could  be  built  by  county  bonds. 

Westmoreland  County  furnishes  a  typical  illustration  of 
how  not  to  do  it,  from  which  the  more  prominent  features  are 
extracted.  The  writer  says  :  "  We  certainly  need  a  change  in 
the  road  laws,  and  a  new  system  of  making  roads.  The  reasons 
are  :  The  supervisors  are  elected  for  their  politics,  regardless  of 
other  qualifications ;  they  are  made  to  do  as  their  constituents 
wish  ;  they  are  not  allowed  to  levy  a  tax  sufficient  to  make  the 
roads  good.  For  example,  a  supervisor  is  elected,  has  the  tax 
levied,  and  is  ready  to  work.  He  notifies  as  many  citizens  as 

(278) 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  279 

the-  case  demands.  They  meet  at  the  place  appointed,  some 
with  tools,  some  without ;  instructions  are  given,  and  for  an 
hour  or  two  all  goes  well ;  then  work  slackens,  and  they  begin 
to  show  that  they  consider  their  service  as  an  accommodation  to 
the  supervisor,  who  cannot  discharge  them.  The  result  is  that 
but  little  is  accomplished  in  proportion  to  their  wages.  Again, 
they  all  want  to  be  boss,  each  doing  what  he  desires ;  they 
dump  large  stones  into  a  rut,  and  pronounce  it  a  good  job ; 
or  the  property  owner  objects  to  opening  drains  into  his  field, 
so  the  water  is  made  to  course  along  the  road  and  settle  in  the 
depressions,  because  the  law  says  where  the  road  is  thirty  feet 
wide  the  water  must  be  confined  to  it.  Many  instances  of  slov- 
enly work  are  cited  till  the  day  wears  away  and  evening  comes, 
when  the  supervisor  settles  up  and  finds  that  children,  laggards 
and  delinquents  are  expected  to  be  counted  as  full-grown,  able- 
bodied  men  for  a  full  day's  labor.  The  whole  thing  is  a  swindle, 
sanctioned  by  law,  and  the  roads  are  always  in  poor  condition." 
Road  making  should  be  applied  as  a  science.  The  supervi- 
sor should  be  elected  for  each  county,  who  should  examine  town- 
ship officers,  and,  if  qualified,  hire  them  ;  buy  tools,  furnish  teams 
and  laborers,  and  whatever  may  be  required  for  making  or  main- 
taining good  roads.  He  should  have  power  to  change  the  loca- 
tion of  a  road  when  necessary,  to  open  new  roads,  and  vacate 
those  which  are  unnecessary  ;  to  adopt  plans  and  methods,  build 
bridges,  culverts,  etc.  ;  to  audit  accounts,  and  make  reports  to 
county  officers  monthly.  All  tax  should  be  paid  in  money. 
Stones  to  be  broken  to  pass  through  a  two-inch  ring,  and  the 
metaled  part  of  the  road  to  be  not  less  than  eight  feet  wide. 


Lycoming  County  divides  roads  into  two  classes,  and  rec- 
ommends separate  treatment  for  those  in  level  country  from 
those  over  hills.  It  lays  stress  upon  thorough  drainage,  and 
advises  the  reversal  of  the  usual  method  by  "flooding  the  fields 
instead  of  draining  them,"  with  other  points  already  stated  else- 
where relating  to  construction. 


280  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

Lehigh  County  voices  its  views  to  the  effect  that  there  is 
but  one  alternative,  that  is  "  to  pike  the  roads  with  limestone, 
gravel  or  cinder,"  but  if  the  legislature  passes  an  act  it  will  ruin 
two-thirds  of  the  land  owners,  who  can  now  scarcely  make  both 
ends  meet.  The  road  commissioner  is  no  good  in  a  county. 
The  old  law  should  be  repealed.  People  should  not  work  out 
their  taxes,  as  it  makes  poor  roads.  Our  supervisors  do  the  work, 
and  begin  at  any  hour  and  call  it  a  day.  No  side  gutters  are 
opened,  no  cross  drains  made,  and  the  road  machines  are  of  no 
use.  But  how  shall  we  raise  the  money  ? 


Berks  County  suggests  that  the  State  should  purchase  a 
stone  crusher  for  each  county,  and  that  the  privilege  of  working 
out  the  tax  should  not  be  repealed  ;  that  there  is  no  need  of  an 
engineer  or  supervisor,  but  that  suitable  men  can  be  found  in 
each  township  to  do  the  work  if  only  some  uniform 'rules  were 
prepared  for  their  guidance.  The  taxes  should  not  be  increased. 


A  Bucks  County  farmer  says  main  roads  should  be  50  feet 
wide,  and  cross  roads  33.  They  should  have  a  shallow  ditch  on 
either  side,  with  frequent  openings.  The  earth  from  the  ditches 
should  be  thrown  into  the  middle  of  the  road  and  rounded  up, 
so  it  will  be  8  inches  higher  than  the  sides.  Then  cover  this 
surface  with  6  inches  of  broken  stone  about  the  size  of  a  guinea's 
egg.  The  bed  of  the  road  should  be  20  feet  wide.  The  stones 
should  not  be  too  hard.  A  road  built  in  this  way  costs  a  good 
deal,  but  it  is  cheapest  in  the  long  run.  To  keep  it  in  repair, 
let  it  to  the  farmers  in  one-half  mile  lengths. 

A  Philadelphian  recommends  a  clause  regulating  the  breadth 
of  wheel  tires,  and  that  roads  be  built  of  layers  of  stone  and 
cinder,  alternately,  but  no  dimensions  are  stated  nor  any  esti- 
mates given. 

Snyder  County  is  represented  by  an  experienced  "  foreman," 
farmer  and  supervisor  for  the  third  term,  who  says  roads  should 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  281 

be  made  in  the  Summer,  from  May  to  September,  of  hard  stone, 
broken  for  the  bottom,  to  be  covered  with  gravel  and  rounded 
up.  As  the  farmers  cannot  work  on  roads  at  this  time  of  year, 
they  don't  get  the  work  they  should  have.  At  least  one  good 
man  should  be  appointed  by  the  judge  of  the  court,  in  each 
township,  and  he  should  be  endorsed  by  at  least  twelve  good 
citizens.  The  supervisor  should  not  be  elected,  for  if  he  don't 
let  the  farmers  work  when  it  suits  them,  he  will  stand  a  poor 
chance  for  re-election,  and  a  goodly  number  are  not  used  to  doing 
an  honest  day's  work.  Under  the  engineer  system  the  foreman 
will  hire  his  laborers,  and  get  a  good  day's  work  out  of  them. 
Farming  land  is  taxed  entirely  too  high  to  raise  grain.  The 
taxes  in  Union  Township  run  from  25  to  28  mills  on  the  dollar, 
and  this  is  more  than  poor  land  will  stand.  The  State  ought  at 
least  to  pay  the  supervisors  and  keep  the  old  stage  roads  in 
good  repair. 

Another  farmer  from  Berks  believes  that  three-fourths  of 
all  the  road  tax  is  wasted,  and  if  properly  spent  at  least  three 
miles  of  good  roads  could  be  built  each  year,  and  in  from  five 
to  seven  years  every  township  in  the  State  would  have  good 
roads  without  increasing  the  taxation. 


NOTES  BY  THE  SECRETARY. 

Judging  from  the  general  tenor  of  the  papers  the  feeling 
prevails  among  farmers  that  their  taxes  are  already  greatly  in 
excess  of  those  of  other  citizens,  and  that  the  cost  of  transform- 
ing mud  roads  into  macadam  is  so  great  as  to  be  impracticable. 

The  success  of  any  important  measure  is  assured  only  atter 
those  most  interested  in  it  become  convinced  that  it  will  result 
greatly  to  their  benefit.  To  this  end  the  estimates  and  results 
of  experience,  as  to  the  benefits  conferred  by  improved  roads, 
are  presented,  that  the  farmers  may  look  upon  the  other  side  of 
the  picture  and  come  to  realize  the  enormous  gain  to  themselves 
and  others  from  improved  highways.  The  statement  that 
$4,000,000  are  wasted  in  Pennsylvania  alone  in  consequence  of 
her  poor  and  often  impassable  roads,  is  a  moderate  one.  Even 
the  saving  of  25  per  cent,  of  the  horse-power  required  for  traffic 
in  Great  Britain  is  estimated  at  $100,000,000.  Again,  it  is  stated 
that  the  road  tax  for  Pennsylvania  is  about  $4,000,000,  and  there 
is  nothing  to  show  for  it,  because  of  the  useless  attempts  to 
build  a  permanent  structure  out  of  incoherent,  perishable  mate- 
rial over  improper  locations,  and  because  of  unskilled  labor  and 
imperfect  supervision.  Thus  another  direct  waste  is  added  to 
the  indirect  one,  causing  a  loss  of  $8,000,000,  which,  under 
proper  legislation,  should  be  converted  into  a  permanent  benefit. 
It  is  also  a  fact  that  the  cost  of  maintenance  decreases  as  the 
surface  of  the  roads  is  improved,  so  that  it  will  be  far  more  eco- 
nomical to  maintain  them  after  the  work  is  done  than  before. 
[f  the  money  now  annually  wasted  were  gradually  applied  to 
permanent  works  there  need  be  no  increase  in  taxation,  while 
before  many  years  the  reconstruction  would  be  an  accomplished 
fact. 

The  cost  of  keeping  one  horse  is  placed  at  $125  per  annum, 

(282) 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  283 

and  it  is  clearly  shown  that  the  improvement  of  the  roads  will 
enable  three  horses  to  do  the  work  of  four,  and  in  many  places 
one  may  easily  haul  the  loads  now  requiring  two,  yet  the  law  that 
would  tax  the  farmer  to  this  extent  each  year  would  be  regarded 
as  oppressive,  merely  because  the  economy  of  a  good  road  is  not 
appreciated.  It  is  none  the  less  a  fact  which  will  only  come  to 
be  realized  after  it  has  been  tried. 

The  difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  this  move  for  better  roads 
are  ignorance  and  distrust.  Ignorance  as  to  the  great  benefits 
to  result  from  improved  highways,  both  directly  and  indirectly, 
and  which  it  is,  in  part,  the  object  of  these  papers  to  remove; 
distrust  as  to  the  integrity  of  those  who  may  be  selected  or 
appointed  to  conduct  the  work  and  handle  the  means.  This  can 
be  met  by  employing  a  class  of  men  of  well-known  probity  and 
ability,  whose  reputation  for  skill  and  honesty  is  worth  more  to 
them  than  money,  and  such  a  class  will  be  found  in  the  civil 
engineers  and  surveyors  resident  in  the  great  Commonwealth  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  are  deeply  interested  as  citizens  in  promoting 
this  long-needed  reformation. 

Again,  the  injustice  of  placing  the  burden  of  taxation  for 
roads  upon  real  estate  is  one  which  calls  forth  vehement  protest/ 
from  the  farmer,  and  the  possibility  of  increasing  this  burden 
begets  general  opposition,  so  that  no  legislator  would  be  safe  Li 
his  seat  who  would  advocate  so  radical  a  measure. 

Practically,  therefore,  it  becomes  a  question  of  Ways  and 
Means,  which  must  be  provided  by  enactments  in  such  a  manner 
as  not  to  increase  the  rate,  but  to  equalize  and  distribute  it  more 
generally  over  the  entire  community  which  will  be  benefited ; 
and  to  secure  far  greater  efficiency  from  the  expenditures  than 
now  obtains  un^ler  the  "  working  out"  system  with  supervisors. 
When  it  comes  to  be  realized  that  good  roads  are  a  benefit 
to  all  classes  of  citizens,  whether  farmer  or  manufacturer,  con- 
sumer or  producer,  banker  or  merchant,  corporations  or  individ- 
uals, the  injustice  of  so  unequal  a  distribution  of  the  road  tax 
will  be  better  appreciated  and  be  more  equitably  distributed. 


284  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  cost  of  any  article, 
whether  of  luxury  or  necessity,  is  made  up  of  two  items,  viz. : 
that  of  production  and  that  of  transportation  and  storage,  and 
that  the  resistance  encountered  on  roads  and  streets  forms  the 
larger  percentage  of  the  cost  of  movement.  If  this  be  dimin- 
ished the  profit  to  the  producer  must  be  greater  or  the  cost  to 
the  consumer  less. 

Roads  are  but  parts  of  an  interdependent  system  of  trans- 
portation, and  form  the  most  important  feeders  to  the  railroads. 
There  are  many  reasons  why  the  trunk  lines  as  well  as  the 
branches  should  use  every  effort  to  improve  these  important 
auxiliaries  to  their  traffic  and  keep  their  rolling  stock  more  uni- 
formly employed  at  all  seasons.  There  are  no  organizations  that 
would  be  so  greatly  benefited  as  the  transportation  companies 
by  the  improvement  of  our  highways,  and  it  is  therefore  emi- 
nently proper  that  their  taxes  should  be  applied  to  this  purpose. 

WAYS   AND    MEANS. 

Various  suggestions  are  made  as  to  the  proper  method  of 
providing  the  funds  for  improving  the  roads  ;  among  them  it  is 
proposed,  (i),  that  counties  or  townships  shall  be  authorized  to 
issue  bonds  at  a  low  rate  of  interest  up  to  a  stipulated  amount, 
and  to  levy  sufficient  tax  to  pay  the  interest  and  provide  a  sink- 
ing fund  ;  or  (2),  that  a  poll  tax  for  roads  be  laid  on  every  male 
citizen  or  alien,  whether  property  holder  or  not ;  or  (3),  that 
joint  stock  companies  be  permitted  to  build  or  improve  pikes  and 
collect  tolls.  (4)  Some  writers  think  the  State  should  build  free 
turnpikes  between  principal  cities,  leaving  it  for  the  lesser 
divisions  to  extend  the  system  by  branches ;  or  (5),  that  the 
State  should  loan  the  counties  a  pro  rata  depending  on  mileage, 
population  or  subscription  to  its  own  road  fund ;  (6),  others 
again  go  so  far  as  to  endorse  a  movement  by  the  National 
Government  in  loaning  its  credit  to  the  States  for  the  improve- 
ment of  its  roads  as  postal  routes  as  it  does  for  rivers  and  har- 
bors or  for  railroads 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  285 

As  outlined  above,  it  is  the  writer's  opinion  that  an  equitable 
readjustment  of  the  taxes  with  proper  restrictions  as  to  the  intel- 
ligent supervision  and  distribution  will  be  amply  sufficient  to 
incorporate  the  movement. 

There  are  serious  objections  also  to  the  stock  company 
proposition,  as  it  prevents  uniformity  of  action  and  equitable 
taxation.  Some  roads  will  cost  less  and  be  taxed  more  than 
others,  and  it  is  always  difficult  to  enforce  a  standard  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  highways  or  to  compel  companies  to  maintain 
it.  Witness  the  streets  of  Philadelphia. 

The  plan  which  commends  itself  to  the  writer  as  being  the 
simplest,  most  direct  and  least  objectionable  is  that  of  State  aid 
under  proper  restrictions.  For  example,  let  the  amount  that 
can  be  spared  be  appropriated  for  the  construction,  not  main- 
tenance, of  permanent  roads,  to  become  available  after  a  cer- 
tain limited  date,  by  which  time  the  various  counties  should 
notify  the  State  Treasurer  what  amount  of  money  they  were 
willing  to  subscribe  and  appropriate  for  the  same  purpose  for 
the  current  year,  when  the  State  appropriation  should  be  allotted 
pro  rata  among  the  counties  subscribing  to  the  road  fund,  and 
the  county  treasurer  be  authorized  to  draw  on  the  State  Treasu- 
rer by  instalment  as  the  work  progressed  and  was  accepted  by 
the  board  of  engineers  and  inspectors.  The  location,  inspection 
and  approval  of  the  roads  should  be  under  a  board  consisting  of 
the  resident,  county  and  State  engineers,  or  their  deputies,  and 
four  reputable  citizens  of  the  county  appointed  by  the  judge 
of  the  court,  or  elected  by  the  citizens. 

No  public  work  of  this  character  should  be  undertaken 
until  a  competent  civil  engineer  is  appointed  to  represent  the 
interests  of  the  State,  who  should  carefully  revise  the  character 
and  location  of  every  road  before  the  work  of  metaling  the 
surface  is  authorized.  The  economy  of  such  an  office  will  be 
very  great  in  effecting  far  more  in  preventing  useless  expendi- 
ture than  the  cost  of  the  office.  The  best  is  the  cheapest  in  this 
case,  and  it  is  well  said  that  "  the  man  who  works  for  nothing  is 


286  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

not  worth  his  board."  While  other  States  find  it  to  the  interest 
of  economy  to  maintain  an  engineer,  Pennsylvania  has  been  con- 
tent to  entrust  the  supervision  of  her  public  works  to  the  rota- 
tion of  a  political  office  and  suffer  accordingly  from  indifference 
and  neglect.  It  is  said  that  $200,000,000  will  not  cover  the 
waste  due  to  imperfect  roads  alone. 

Upon  the  question  of  working  out  the  tax  or  paying  it  in 
money  there  is  but  one  opinion,  and  that  is  to  the  effect  that  the 
former  system  should  be  abolished,  and  also  that  the  length  of 
the  term  of  the  supervisor  should  be  increased  to  at  least  three 
years,  and  that  he  should  not  be  elected  but  appointed  by  the 
courts  or  by  county  or  township  officers  during  good  behavior, 
and  should  be  required  to  give  bonds,  be  regularly  employed,  and 
be  authorized  to  let  work  by  contract  or  to  employ  laborers  as  he 
might  consider  most  effective. 

Since  it  is  proposed  to  invite  a  prize  competition  for  the 
best  draft  of  a  legislative  bill,  the  writer  does  not  feel  justified  in 
further  elaborating  upon  the  special  features  which  should  be 
included  in  such  a  measure. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

Many  opinions  are  presented  on  this  head,  showing  great 
diversity  as  to  dimensions,  material,  and  mode  of  construction, 
notwithstanding  the  general  impression  that  "  we  know  all  about 
road  building  that  is  worth  knowing."  This  knowledge,  accord- 
ing to  some,  may  be  condensed  into  the  brief  requirements  of 
thorough  drainage  and  an  impervious,  smooth  and  hard  surface. 
But  the  methods  and  materials  for  accomplishing  the  end  are  so 
various  and  so  local  as  to  show  the  necessity  for  great  latitude 
in  this  direction  to  meet  the  resources  of  the  ever-varying  geo- 
logical features  of  the  State.  The  same  individuality  is  found 
to  exist  as  to  the  dimensions,  grades,  forms  of  sections,  etc.,  as 
well  as  to  the  units  employed  in  estimating  quantities.  In 
framing  a  law  it  is  very  important  that  the  terms  be  general  yet 
free  from  ambiguity,  so  that  there  may  be  no  misconstruction. 
Thus  the  ton  and  perch,  which  have  a  variety  of  values,  should 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  287 

be  excluded  as  units  of  quantity.  Moreover,  the  specific  gravity 
varies  so  greatly  even  in  materials  of  the  same  species  that  a 
ton  conveys  no  definite  idea  as  to  the  space  it  may  occupy. 

GENERAL    DIMENSIONS. 

Linear  measurements  should  be  made  by  the  foot,  yard  or 
mile,  superficial  measurements  by  the  square  yard  or  acre,  and 
cubic  measurements  by  the  cubic  yard.  All  of  these  have  the 
same  basis,  viz.,  the  foot.  In  regulating  the  widths  of  roads  the 
ratio  of  length  to  area  as  of  the  mile  to  the  acre  should  be  made 
the  unit  of  widths,  and  some  multiple  of  this  should  be  made  the 
width  of  the  road  ;  thus  the  acre  (43,560  square  feet)  divided  by 
the  mile  (5280  feet)  gives  8^  as  the  ratio.  Let  this  be  called 
the  road  unit  or  demirod.  Or,  in  other  words,  a  road  one  mile 
long  and  8^  feet  wide  will  contain  one  acre ;  a  road  four  times 
this  width  (33  feet)  will  require  four  acres  to  the  mile.  This 
width  between  fences  would  be  ample  for  cross-country  roads. 
The  unit  is  also  a  good  width  for  the  wagon  track,  with  sufficient 
allowance  for  hubs  and  clearance.  For  double  track,  16%  feet, 
or  i  rod  of  metaled  surface  would  be  ample,  =  2  acres  per  mile. 
On  this  basis  a  single  trackway,  if  I  foot  deep,  would  contain 
1613^  cubic  yards.  A  double  trackway,  if  six  inches  deep,  the 
same.  At  one  dollar  per  cubic  yard  the  cost  would  be  $1613.33 
per  mile  for  metal.  In  one  acre,  or  unit  of  area,  (i  mile  long  by 
8^  feet  wide)  there  are  4840  square  yards.  Cost  by  the  square 
yard  of  one  foot  depth,  33^  cents. 

Roads  of  six  units  in  width,  or  3  rods  (49^2  feet)  6  acres 
per  mile,  would  give  either  three  or  four  trackways  with  sufficient 
room  for  sidewalks  and  drains — furnishing  a  good  width  for  main 
lines ;  while  for  boulevards,  they  may  be  8,  10  or  12  units  (66, 
82.5  or  99  feet)  according  to  circumstances. 

The  importance  of  limiting  the  grades  is  mentioned  by  a 
number  of  writers,  who  restrict  it  to  the  angle  of  repose,  which 
varies  for  different  surfaces.  For  ordinary  cases  5  per  cent, 
should  not  be  exceeded,  yet  there  may  be  exceptions  when  the 
engineer  would  not  be  warranted  in  observing  the  limitation,  so 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

toat  discretion  should  be  given  him  to  be  exercised  where  the 
Yraffic  would  not  justify  so  great  an  outlay. 

The  privilege  should  be  secured  of  making  outlets  into  any 
natural  drainage  channel.  The  width  of  tire  should  be  such 
that  the  load  should  not  exceed  400  pounds  per  lineal  inch,  and 
it  would  be  a  great  improvement  and  effect  a  large  saving  in 
maintenance  if  the  axles  of  all  wagons  employed  in  heavy  haul- 
mg  were  made  with  one  axle  shorter  than  the  other  by  an 
amount  equal  to  double  the  width  of  the  tire.  The  effect 
would  be  to  distribute  the  pressure  over  double  the  usual  sur- 
face of  the  road  and  prevent  ruts,  reducing  the  force  of  traction, 
and  causing  the  wagons  to  act  as  road  rollers. 

As  to  the  relative  merits  of  the  Telford  and  Macadam  sys- 
tems, it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  experienced  supervisors  who 
advocate  either,  and  that  some  claim  that  Telford  costs  less  than 
Macadam,  others  the  reverse,  according  to  their  experience.  In 
fact,  it  is  found  that  there  is  very  little  difference  under  similar 
conditions  for  equal  depths  and  widths.  On  good  subsoil,  well- 
drained,  the  foundation  course  of  Telford  may  be  omitted,  in 
which  case  it  becomes  a  light  Macadam.  From  the  figures  sub- 
mitted, it  will  be  seen  that  a  9-inch  metaling  may  be  built  for 
from  $2500  to  $3000  per  mile  or  less,  according  to  the  accessi- 
bility of  material,  and  the  cost  of  maintenance  varies  from  one  per 
cent  to  ten,  according  to  the  efficiency  of  the  administration  and 
material  of  which  the  road  is  built. 

In  these  notes  no  allusion  is  made  to  the  several  prize 
papers,  as  they  are  submitted  in  full  for  the  information  of  those 
interested. 

The  Secretary  desires  to  submit,  in  this  connection,  a  few 
notes  on  the  adaption  of  soils  to  road  construction,  the  literature 
of  which  appears  to  be  meagre. 

SOILS   AND   THEIR   ADAPTATION    TO    ROADS. 

It  is  the  province  of  the  engineer  to  adapt  his  materials  to 
the  work  which  they  are  intended  to  perform  in  the  most  judi- 
rjous  manner,  yet  there  would  seem  to  be  no  branch  of  engi- 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  289 

neering  in  which  this  desideratum  is  more  generally  neglected 
than  in  that  of  road  making.  Here,  it  is  true,  many  other 
more  important  considerations  have  made  this  element  subser- 
vient, and  in  many  cases  it  is  almost  entirely  ignored.  The 
road  is  frequently  located  where  land  is  cheapest  and  poorest, 
without  reference  to  its  sustaining  power,  composition,  condi- 
tion or  porosity,  yet  there  are  many  cases  where  a  little  atten- 
tion to  these  requirements  and  a  readjustment  of  the  alignment 
would  convert  a  road,  at  times  impassable,  into  a  permanently 
good  highway,  capable  of  being  maintained  at  small  expense. 

Although  much  has  been  written  and  said  upon  the  appli- 
cation of  stone  to  the  surfacing  of  roads,  there  is  comparatively 
little  information  to  be  found  in  modern  literature  relative  to 
the  utility  of  the  various  soils  for  road  making  purposes ;  yet  it 
is  a  matter  of  every  day  observation  that  there  are  some  forma- 
tions where  country  roads  are  found  to  be  in  uniformly  good 
condition.  It  is  important  that  the  natural  conditions  existing 
at  such  localities  should  be  studied  and  extended  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, and  that  the  effects  of  the  elements  upon  the  sustaining 
power  of  soils  should  be  better  known. 

That  road  will  be  found  to  be  most  durable  whose  bed  is 
least  affected  by  rain,  frost,  sun  and  wind ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
material  which  retains  most  nearly  a  constant  volume  when  subjected 
to  great  ranges  of  temperature,  moisture  or  pressure,  will  make 
the  best  roadbed.  This  result  is  usually  sought  to  be  attained 
by  "  thorough  drainage,"  but  this  is  an  expensive  remedy,  re- 
quiring constant  supervision,  and  is  not,  therefore,  so  effective 
as  a  location  upon  soil  which  does  not  require  so  much  atten- 
tion to  maintain  its  immobility.  In  a  general  way,  it  is  well 
known  that  sand  will  contract  when  wet,  while  clay  will  expand 
under  the  same  conditions.  Loam  and  gravely  earth  expand 
largely  from  frost  and  contract  from  heat,  thus  breaking  up  the 
surface  in  a  short  time.  Shaly  and  porous  rocks  in  situ  are  not 
materially  changed  in  volume  by  these  natural  forces,  and  usu- 
ally present  a  good  wearing  surface ;  but  when  exposed  on  steep 

19 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


slopes,  the  detritus  is  rapidly  abraded,  leaving  exposed  the 
ragged  edges  of  other  and  harder  rocks  with  which  they  may 
be  interstratified. 

With  a  view  to  determine  the  relative  sensibility  of  various 
earths,  a  series  of  experiments  was  conducted  by  Messrs.  Hulme 
and  Fisher,1  to  determine  the  absorption,  expansion,  angle  of 
slope,  etc.,  of  crude  materials.  They  began  with  dry  clay,  and, 
by  adding  water,  by  weight,  found  the  average  absorption  to  be 
27^  per  cent.  The  time  required  to  reach  the  limit,  for  the 
quantity  of  clay  tested,  was  about  five  hours.  The  experiments 
on  expansion  gave  average  results  as  high  as  12  per  cent.,  or 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  for  every  lineal  inch  of  clay.  When 
mixed  with  16  per  cent.,  by  weight,  of  water,  it  was  found  that 
the  clay  was  unable  to  sustain  a  pressure  of  thirty  pounds  per 
square  inch,  or  two  tons  per  square  foot. 

Unfortunately,  time  was  lacking  for  the  completion  of  this 
series  of  experiments  with  other  materials,  but  this  loss  may  be 
in  part  supplied  by  the  following  data,  compiled  from  experi- 
ments by  Mr.  Schiibler,  as  to  the  shrinkage,  absorption  and 
saturation  of  the  various  soils  : 


Ud 

Absorption. 

Character. 

0  >. 

& 

|k 

I! 

looo  grains  of  earth  on  a  surface  of  50 
square  inches  absorbed  in 

Sfi 

**'§ 

*"^"a 

0313 

£u 

M.SO 

12  hours. 

24  hours. 

48  hours. 

72  hours. 

Siliceous  sand, 
Sandy  clay,  .   . 

2.653 

2  OOI 

166 
163 

m 

I6.J 

23.8 

o  grains. 

21 

0 

26 

0 

28 

0 

28 

Loamy  clay,    . 
Brick  clay,   .   . 

2  58l 
2-560 

161 

160 

41.4 

45-4 

25.6 
28.4 

25 
30 

9 

34 
40 

32 

Pure  gray  clay, 
Pipe  clay,     .  . 
Arable  soil,  .   . 
Garden  mold,  . 

2-533 
2.440 
2401 
2.332 

I5£2 

146 

43-3 

ja 

48.4 

27.4 
31-0 
27.2 

33-2 

37 

16 

35 

42 

22 

45 

48 
23 

49 

23 

52 

Humus,     .   .   . 

1.370 

9i 

50.1 

55.0 

80 

97 

no 

I2O 

From  the  table,  it  appears  that  siliceous  sand  does  not 
absorb  water,  and  that  the  practical  limit  with  the  clay  com- 
pounds is  reached  at  the  end  of  the  forty-eighth  hour,  or  possi- 
bly earlier.  For  arable  soil,  the  percentage  is  but  2.3,  while  for 
pure  gray  clay  it  is  double  this,  or  4.8  per  cent. 

""•iversity  of  Pennsylvania,  1890,  for  their  Post-Senior  Thesis. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  291 

On  the  other  hand,  with  reference  to  the  effects  of  heat, 
the  same  authority  states  that  in  100  parts  the  same  soils  shrink 
in  the  following  proportions  : 


filiceous  sand,  .   .   . 
andyclay,     .... 

No  cha 
6  pc 
8-9 
11.4 

18.3 

12.0 

149 

20  0 

nge 
irts. 

Brick,      "     
Pure  gray  clay,      .   . 
Arable  soil,     .... 
Garden  mold,     .   .   . 

Peat,  strong  clay  and  humus  will  shrink  one-fifth  of  their 
bulk  in  dry  weather  and  expand  correspondingly  in  wet.  They 
are,  therefore,  the  worst  kinds  of  material  for  a  substratum. 

These  data  show  that  the  pure  sands  are  those  which  are 
least  liable  to  change  of  volume  from  the  action  of  natural 
agencies,  and  they  are,  therefore,  those  best  adapted  to  the  pur- 
pose of  foundations  for  the  wearing  surface,  provided  only  that 
the  tendency  to  lateral  movement  be  neutralized  by  suitable 
curbing,  to  prevent  the  sand  from  being  washed  out. 

In  making  a  selection  from  the  siliceous  san^s,  the  coarser 
varieties  will  be  found  best,  as  the  quantity  of  water  absorbed 
is  much  less  than  in  the  fine  grades.  The  ability  to  retain 
moisture  varies  greatly  with  different  soils,  as  well  as  with  their 
depth.  Thus  the  "  containing  power  of  water  of  the  earths  as 
determined  from  the  amount  of  water  evaporated  in  four  days" 
was  found  by  Schiiber  to  be, 

For  calcareous  sand, 29  per  cent. 

"    light  garden  mold, 89  " 

"     very  light  turf  soil, 366  " 

"     arable, 60  " 

*•    black  turf,  not  so  light, 179  " 

"     white  fane  clay, 70  " 

"gray          "            87  " 

"  The  fine  gray  clays,  after  fourteen  days,  exhibited  still  a 
damp  surface,  while  the  turf  soils  were  perfectly  dry  many  days 
earlier." 

These  experiments  all  demonstrate  the  unsuitable  character 


292  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

of  clay  or  its  compounds  for  the  purpose  of  a  substratum  for 
roads,  and  indicate  the  care  which  the  engineer  should  exercise 
to  avoid  argillaceous  formations  when  possible,  or  else  to  pro- 
vide a  suitable  substitute  which  is  not  readily  affected  by  frost 
or  heat,  moisture  or  dryness. 

With  due  attention  to  the  character  of  the  soils,  the  expense 
of  maintenance  and  the  resistance  to  traffic  may  be  greatly 
reduced,  while  the  character  of  the  road  will  be  much  improved.1 

1  Reference  is  made  to  the  4ist  and  42d  Reports  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  on 
Roads,  edited  by  Thomas  J.  Edge,  Secretary,  Harrisburg,  Penna.,  1890,  for  much  valuable 
information. 


RESURFACING. 

Past  experience  has  shown  that  in  resurfacing  old  or  worn- 
out  roads  success  was  mainly  due  to  the  attention  paid  to  the 
size  and  form  of  the  stones  which  were  carefully  broken  by 
hand  on  the  roadside.  They  were  so  small  that  the  passage  of 
a  wheel  did  not  produce  the  rocking  movement  inherent  to  larger 
stones,  hence  it  was  very  easy  to  keep  the  roads  in  good  con- 
dition until  the  entire  surface  had  worn  down  uniformly  to  the 
lower  stratum  when  it  was  resurfaced.  So  far  as  possible,  the 
toughest  stones  were  reserved  for  this  purpose.  It  is  manifest, 
therefore,  that  size,  form  and  quality  were  the  elements  relied 
upon  to  secure  durability  in  the  roads  repaired  by  the  earlier 
road  masters. 

The  same  care  in  the  selection  and  application  of  the  mate- 
rials should  produce  equally  good  results  to-day  under  similar 
conditions  of  climate  and  traffic,  but,  unfortunately,  the  expe- 
rience of  the  last  century  is  not  often  utilized  in  practice. 
Stones  very  much  too  large  for  the  purpose  are  freely  used,  the 
quality  is  inferior,  and  to  facilitate  their  binding  together,  clay, 
the  most  injurious  of  materials,  is  frequently  added.  Carefully 
drafted  specifications  are  often  rendered  nugatory  by  a  too  liberal 
construction  on  the  part  of  incompetent  supervisors  appointed 
to  enforce  them,  resulting  in  failure  and  extravagance. 

Of  all  materials  available  for  metaling,  that  variety  of  stone 
is  the  best  which  possesses  greatest  resistance  to  crushing  and 
wear,  greatest  toughness  and  density,  and  which  breaks  most 
nearly  into  cubical  or  angular  forms. 

Such  material  is  comparatively  rare,  it  is  true,  but  where  it 
exists  it  is  economical  to  transport  it  considerable  distances  for 
use  in  remetaling,  as  its  greater  durability  will  save  the  cost  of 


(293) 


294  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

the  more  frequent  transportation  and  labor  when  softer  varieties 
are  used.  Thus  if  a  trap  rock  has  twice  the  strength  of  a  granite 
at  the  quarry,  it  would  be  worth  more  than  double  the  price  on 
the  road,  since  the  expense  of  one  hauling  and  laying  would  be 
saved. 

For  resurfacing  in  Philadelphia  County  the  present  specifi- 
cations conform  very  nearly  to  the  requirements  insisted  upon 
by  MacAdam,  and  should  result  in  good  and  durable  roads  where 
they  are  enforced.  They  provide  "That  repair  to  macadam 
surfaces  shall  be  made  with  hard,  durable  stone,  broken  to  sizes 
such  that  the  greatest  length  of  the  largest  pieces  will  not  ex- 
ceed two  inches  put  on  in  quantities  sufficient  to  completely  fill 
all  depressions,  then  be  rolled  or  rammed  and  covered  with  stone 
screenings."  Where  these  specifications  are  strictly  enforced, 
the  result  should  be  a  good  and  durable  wearing  surface,  which 
may  be  readily  maintained  in  the  same  good  condition  by  that 
constant  supervision  which  every  macadamized  road  should 
receive. 

As  a  road  wears  down  by  travel,  it  is  only  possible  to  main- 
tain it  in  such  good  condition  by  constant  vigilance  on  the  part 
of  the  roadkeeper,  who  should  go  over  it  daily  and  make  the 
repairs  immediately  wherever  there  may  be  any  indications  of 
weakness.  The  surface  of  a  road  should  never  be  allowed  to 
wear  into  ruts  and  holes  before  resurfacing,  but  the  instant  a 
break  of  any  kind,  however  small,  occurs,  it  should  be  at  once 
repaired.  The  maintenance  of  a  common  road  should  receive 
the  same  skill,  care  and  attention  as  that  of  a  railroad.  B. 


295 


The  following  rules,  published  by  The  Road  Improvement 
Association,  of  No.  57  Basinghall  Street,  London,  E.  C,  will 
be  found  useful  to  roadmen,  and  are  therefore  submitted  in 
extenso  : 

1.  Never  allow  a  hollow,  a  rut  or  a  puddle  to  remain  on  a 
road,  but  fill  it  up  at  once  with  chips  from  the  stone  heap. 

2.  Always  use  chips  for  patching,  and  for  all  repairs  during 
the  summer  months. 

3.  Never  put  fresh  stones  on  the  road  if  by  cross-picking 
and  a  thorough  use  of  the  rake  the  surface  can  be  made  smooth 
and  kept  at  the  proper  strength  and  section. 

4.  Remember  that  the  rake  is  the  most  useful  tool  in  your 
collection,  and  that  it  should  be  kept  close  at  hand  the  whole 
year  round. 

5.  Do  not  spread  large  patches  of  stone  over  the  whole 
width  of  the  road,  but  coat  the  middle,  or  horse  track,  first, 
and,  when  this  has  worn  in,  coat  each  of  the  sides  in  turn. 

6.  Always  arrange  that  the  bulk  of  the  stones  may  be 
laid  down  before  Christmas. 

7.  In  moderately  dry  weather,  and  on  hard  roads,  always 
pick  up  the  old  surface  into  ridges  six  inches  apart,  and  remove 
all  large  and  projecting  stones  before  applying  a  new  coating. 

8.  Never  spread  stones  more  than  one  stone  deep,  but 
add  a  second  layer  when  the  first  has  worn  in,  if  one  coat  be 
not  enough. 

9.  Use  a  steel-pronged  fork  to  load  the  barrows  at  the 
stone  heap,  so  that  the  siftings  may  be  available  for  "binding" 
and  for  summer  repairs. 

10.  Never  shoot  stones  on  to  the  road,  and  crack  them 
where  they  lie,  or  a  smooth  surface  will  be  out  of  the  question. 


296  ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 

11.  Go  over  the  whole  of  the  new  coating  every  day  or 
two  with  the  rake,  and  never  leave  the  stones  in  ridges. 

12.  Remove  all  large  stones,  blocks  of  wood  and  other 
obstructions  (used  for  diverting  the  traffic)  at  nightfall,  or  the 
consequences  may  be  serious. 

13.  Never  put  a  stone  upon  a  road  for  repairing  purposes 
tJiat  will  not  pass  freely  in  every  direction  through  a  two-inch 
ring,  and  remember  that  still  smaller  stones  should  be  used  for 
patching  and  for  all  slight  repairs. 

14.  Recollect  that  hard  stone  should  be  broken  to  a  finer 
gauge  than  soft,  but  that  the  two-inch  gauge  is  the  largest  that 
should  be  employed  under  any  circumstances  where  no   steam 
roller  is  employed. 

15.  Never  be  without  your  ring-gauge.     It  should  be  to 
the  roadsman  what  the  compass  is  to  the  mariner. 

1 6.  If    you   have   no   ring-gauge,   remember   Mac  Adam's 
advice,  that  any  stone  you  cannot  put  easily  into  your  mouth 
should  be  broken  smaller. 

17.  Use  chips,  if  possible,  for  binding  newly-laid  stones 
together,  and  remember  that  road  sweepings,  horse  droppings 
sods  of  grass,  and  other  rubbish,  when  used  for  this  purpose, 
will  ruin  the  best  road  in  creation. 

1 8.  Remember  that  water-worn  or  rounded  stones  should 
never  be  used  upon  steep  gradients,  or  they  will  fail  to  bind 
together. 

19.  Never  allow  dust  or  mud  to  lie  on  the  surface  of  the 
road,  for  either  of  these  will  double  the  cost  of  maintenance. 

20.  Recollect  dust  becomes  mud  at  the  first  shower,  and 
that  mud  forms  a  wet  blanket  which  will  keep  a  road  in  a  filthy 
condition  for  weeks  at  a  time,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  dry  in 
a  few  hours. 

21.  See  that  all  sweepings   and   scrapings   are  put    into 
heaps,  and  carted  away  immediately. 

22.  Remember  that  the  middle  of  the  road  should  always 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE.  297 

be  a  little  higher  than  the  sides,  so  that  the  rain  may  run  into 
the  side  gutters  at  once. 

23.  Never  allow  the  water  tables,  gutters  and  ditches  to 
clog  up,  but  keep  them  clear  the  whole  year  through. 

24.  Always  be  upon  your  road  in  wet  weather,  and  at  once 
fill  up  with  "  chips  "  any  hollows  or  ruts  where  the  rain  may 
lie. 

25.  When  the  main  coatings  of  stone  have  worn  in,  go 
over  the   whole   road,    and,  gathering   together  all   the   loose 
stones,  return  them  to  the  stone  heap  for  use  in  the  winter  to 
follow ;  for  loose  stones  are  a  source  of  danger  and  annoyance, 
and  should  never  be  allowed  to  lie  on  any  road. 


CONTRIBUTORS. 


ADDIS,  T.  B.  M. 
ALCORN  WM.,  W.  &  Co. 
ALLEN,  ROWLAND  D.     » 
ALTEMUS,  JOSEPH  B. 
ASSOCIATED  CYCLING  CLUBS 

OF  PHILADELPHIA 
ATKINSON  BROTHERS 
AUSTIN,  RICHARD  L. 
BAILY,  JOEL  J. 
BAILY,  JOSHUA  L. 
BAIRD,  HENRY  CAREY 
BAIRD,  JOHN 
BAIRD,  JOHN  &  SONS 
BARKER,  WHARTON 
BARNES,  WILLIAM  H. 
BARTOL,  H.  W. 
BARTON,  HENRY  H. 
BEATTIE  &  HAY 
BELFIELD,  T.  BROOM 
BENSON,  EDWIN  N. 
BERGNER  &  ENGEL  BREWING 

COMPANY 

BERWIND,  CHARLES  F. 
BLAKELY,  JOHN 
BLANKENBURG,  RUDOLPH 
BORIE,  BEAUVEAU 
BROCKIE,  WILLIAM 
BROOKE,  F.  M.  &  H. 
BROWN,  T.  WISTAR 
BRYANT,  WALTER  H. 
BULLITT,  JOHN  C. 


BURGESS,  HUGH 
BURNHAM,  GEORGE 
BUSCH,  HENRY  E. 
BUTTON,  CONYERS 
CASSATT,  ALEXANDER  J. 
CHANDLER,  THEOPHILUS  P.,  JR, 
CHENEY  BROTHERS 
CHESNUT,  JOHN  H. 
CHILDS,  GEORGE  W. 
CLARK,  CLARENCE  H. 
CLARK,  EDWARD  W. 
CLYDE,  B.  FRANK 
CONVERSE,  JOHN  H. 
COOKE,  JAY 
CRESSON, 'GEORGE  V. 
CROWE,  WILLIAM  J. 
DICKSON,  SAMUEL 
DINGEE,  JOHN  H. 
DISSEL,  CHARLES 
DISSTON,  HAMILTON 
DOBBINS,  EDWARD  T. 
DOUGHERTY,  JOHN  A. 
DREER,  FERDINAND  J. 
DWIGHT,  E.  P. 
EDELHEIM,  CARL 
ELKINTON,  Jos.  S.  &  THOS. 
ERBEN,  SEARCH  &  Co. 
EVANS,  S.  W.  &  SON 
FARR,  THOMAS  H. 
FARRELLY,  STEPHEN 
FELL,  JOHN  R. 


(299) 


300 


CONTRIBUTORS. 


PELS  &  Co. 
FELTON,  SAMUEL  K. 
FISHER,  JAMES  LOGAN 
FRANKS,  HENRY  L. 
GARRETT,  C.  S.  &  SON 
GAW,  H.  L.,  JR. 
GERHARD,  WILLIAM 
GIBBS,  WILLIAM  W. 
GILBERT,  SAMUEL  H. 
GlLLINGHAM,  JOSEPH  E. 
GODFREY,  LINCOLN 
GOODWIN,  WILLIAM  W. 
GRAVES,  N.  Z.  &  Co. 
GREGG,  WILLIAM  H. 
GRIFFIN,  NICHOLAS  J. 
GRISCOM,  CLEMENT  A. 
HACKER,  WILLIAM 
HAINES,  HENRY 
HANCE  BROTHERS  &  WHITE 
HARPER,  SMITH 
HARRAH,  C.  J. 
HARRIS,  GEORGE  S.  &  SONS 
HARRISON,  CHARLES  C. 
HART  CYCLE  COMPANY 
HARTSHORNE,  CHARLES 
HAUPT,  LEWIS  M. 
HENSZEY,  W.  C.,  (Agent  for 

Carpenter  Estate). 
HENSZEY,  WILLIAM  P. 
HINCHMAN,  CHARLES  S. 
HINCHMAN,  HOWARD  &  SON 
HIPPLE,  FRANK  K. 
HIRSH  &  BROTHER 
HOUSTON,  HENRY  H. 

HOWELL,  ZOPHAR    C. 


IRVINE,  WILLIAM  B. 
IRWIN,  HENRY 
JAMISON,  B.  K. 
JAYNE,  EBEN  C. 
JENKS,  JOHN  STORY 
JUSTICE,  WILLIAM  W. 
KEIM,  GEORGE  DE  B. 
KEMBLE,  WILLIAM  H. 
KENNEDY,  FRANCIS  W. 
KIMBALL,  F.  S. 
KNIGHT,  EDWARD  C. 
LAMBERT,  JOHN 
LANE'S,  D.  M.  SONS 
LEA,  ARTHUR  H. 
LEA,  HENRY  C. 
LEE,  JESSE  &  SONS 
LESER,  FREDERICK 
LEWIS,  SAUNDERS 
LIPPINCOTT,  CHARLES,  &  Co. 
LIPPINCOTT,  CRAIGE 
LONGSTRETH,  EDWARD 
MACBETH,  REV.  HENRY 

MASON,  HENRY  T. 

• 

MATHEWS,  EDWARD  J. 
McCARGO,  DAVID 

MlLLBOURNE    MlLLS  COMPANY 

MITCHELL,  JAMES  B. 
MUNDELL,  JOHN  &  Co. 
NEWMAN,  M.  M. 
NIMLET,  DAVID  C. 
OGDEN,  EDWARD  H. 
ORNE,  JOHN  F. 
PARTRIDGE  &  RICHARDSON 
PHILADELPHIA  BICYCLE  CLUB 
PHILADELPHIA  TRUSS  Co. 


ROAD  MAKING  AND  MAINTENANCE. 


301 


POLEY,  WARREN  H. 
POPE,  ALBERT  A. 
PORTER,  CHARLES 
PULASKI,  M.  H. 
RAMBO,  WILLIAM  B. 
REDNER,  LEWIS  H. 
REEVES,  PARVIN  &  Co. 
REYNOLDS,  J.  &  SON 
RHAWN,  WILLIAM  H. 
RICHARDSON,  CHARLES 
ROBERTS,  GEORGE  B. 
ROGERS,  WM.  D.,  SON  &  Co. 
ROWLAND,  BENJAMIN 
RYERSS,  ROBERT  W. 
SCHMIDT,  JOHN  G. 
SCOTT,  GEORGE  W. 
SCOTT,  WILLIAM  H. 
SELLERS,  JOHN,  JR. 
SELLERS,  WILLIAM 
SHARPLESS,  HENRY  W. 
SHARPLESS,  JOHN  &  Co. 
SHARPLESS,  SAMUEL  J. 
SHELMERDINE,  WILLIAM  H. 
SHINN,  JAMES  T. 
SHORTRIDGE,  N.  PARKER 
SIMES,  WILLIAM  F. 
SIMONS,  JOHN  F. 
SMITH,  WILLIAM  P.,  Jr. 


STEPHENS,  HORATIO  S. 
STRAWBRIDGE,  JUSTUS  C. 
TAYLOR,  J.  HARRY 
THOMAS,  GEORGE  C. 
TOBIN,  PATRICK 
TOWNSEND,  EDWARD  Y. 
TOWNSEND,  HENRY  C. 
WARREN,  E.  BURGESS 
WEBSTER,  EDMUND 
WEIGHTMAN,  WILLIAM 
WELSH,  JOHN  LOWBER 
WHARTON,  CHARLES  W. 
WHARTON,  JOSEPH 
WHEELER,  ANDREW 
WHITNEY  &  KEMMERER 
WILSON,  J.  SIMS 
WINSOR,  J.  D. 
WINSOR,  W.  D. 
WOOD,  REV.  CHARLES 
WOOD,  WALTER 
WRIGHT,  JAMES  A. 
WRIGHT,  PETER,  &  SONS 
WRIGHT,  TYNDALE  &  VAN 

RODEN 

YARNALL,  FRANCIS  C. 
YATES,  DAVID  G.  &  Co. 
YOUNG  &  SONS. 


INDEX. 


Adjudicators,     composition    of    the 

board  of,  iv 

report  of  the  board  of,  6,  7 
Administration  of  roads,  81-85 
Advantages  of  good  roads,  66-68 
Alabama,  maintenance  of  roads  in, 

74 

Allegheny  Co.,  road  tax  of,  245 
Alluvial  soils,  timber  in,  191 
Alps,  grades  on  roads  crossing  the, 

275 

Arkansas,  maintenance  of  roads  in,  74 
Asphalt,  241 

and  brick,  value  of,  204,  205 
for  sidewalks,  171 
price  per  square  yard  of,  49 
roadways,  27,  28 
Assistant  engineers,  duties  of,  57 
Award  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania road  prizes,  an- 
nouncement of  the,  8 

Beach  pebbles,  232 

Bergey,  D.  H.,  second  prize  paper, 
No.  35,  by,  59-86 

Berks  Co.  farmer,  views  of  a,  281 
suggestions  by,  280 

Berm  at  foot  of  slope,  17 

Block  stone,  laying  of,  207,  208 

roadway,  transverse  slope  of,  27 

Board  of  Adjudicators,  composition 
••  of  the,  iv 

Boards  of  control  and  county  super- 
visors, 80,  Si 


Boards    and    township   supervisors, 

79.  80 

Boring  rods,  17,  1 8 
Bramley,    R.    R.,     caution    against 
stones  with  clay  by,  1 14 
Brick  and  asphalt,  value  of,  204,  205 

and  stone,  92 
Brickbats,  112 

Brick  on  concrete  or  sand,  prices  per 
square  yard  of,  49 

pavements,  30,  31 
Bricks,  durability  of,  31 

for  sidewalks,  171 
Bridges,  190-192 

small,  264 

Brown,  Captain,  statement  by,  52 
Brush  for  draining,  94,  95 

for  metal,  265 

Bucks  Co.  farmer,  views  of  a,  280 
Burnt  clay,    definition  and  use  of, 

165,  166 
Burt,  Mr.,  statement  by,  235 

Calcareous  soils,  163 

California,  road  tax  of,  246 

Cape  Cod  sand,  92 

Carting,  239 

Carts,  best  for  depositing  stone,  103 

broad  tired,  88 

Cassatt,  A.  J.,  statement  by,  71 
Catch-water  drains,  17 
Cawley,  Frank,    honorable  mention, 
paper  No.  42,  by,  211- 
225 


(303) 


304 


INDEX. 


Cedar  blocks,  30 

Chadwick,  Edwin,  statement  on  the 
economy  of  good 
roads,  by,  236 

Charcoal  roads,  269 

Chips,  application  of,  133 

Cities,  maintenance  of  roads  in,  76, 

77 

roadways  in,  25 
sidewalks  in,  40 
City  pavements,  cleaning  of,  44 

foundations  for,  25,  26 
roads,  suburban  extensions  of, 

201 

Classification  of  roads,  81,  82 
Clay  and  its  compounds,  unsuitable 
character  of,  for  foun- 
dations, 291,  292 
as  a  foundation,  113 
bedding,  large  stones  on,  115 
burnt,  233 

definition  and  use  of, 
165,  166 

cost  of  movement  on,  245 
effect  of  moisture  on,  289 
road,  planks  on,  23,  24 
roads,  waste  caused  by,  245 
sand  and  stone,  relative  value  of, 

112 

side  slopes  in  cuttings  in,  23 
Clays  arable,  a  road  over,  113,  114 
Climatic  influence,  162,  163 
Coal  ashes,  108,  109 
Competitors,  names  of  the  success- 
ful, iv 

Compression,  the  principle  of,  278 
Concrete  for  a  foundation,  207 
for  sidewalks,  171 
foundation  of,  26 
price  per  square  yard  of,  48 


Concrete,  solid  bed  of,  in  the  con- 
struction of  streets,   172, 

173 
Construction,  227-236,  263-271 

a  natural  and  effective  mode  of, 

204,  205 
estimates  of  quantities  and  cost 

of,  186,187 
modes  of,  187,  188 
notes  on,  286,  287 
of  public  roads,  68-72 
ruling  conditions  of,  183 
suggestions  in  regard  to,  206-209 
systems  of,  suitable  for  adoption 

63-65 

Contracts,  awarding  of,  187 
Contributions   submitted  by  known 
correspondents,    278- 
281 

to  the  road  prizes,  digest  of  the 
contents  of  the  remain- 
ing,  by  Prof.    L.    M. 
Haupt,  243-277 
Contributors,  list  of,  299 
Convicts  on  roads,  58 
Corn  stalks  for  metal,  265 
Correspondents,  known  contributions 
submitted  by,  278-281 
Cost  and  maintenance  of  a  good  road, 

169-171 
Country  and  town,   good  roads  an 

advantage  to,  66,  67 
road,  standard,  194 
roads,  cleaning  of,  44,  45 

repairing  the  surface  of,  47 
County  engineer,  duties  of,  56,  57 
office  of,  216 
roads,  definition  of,  82 

legislation  applicable  to,  209, 


INDEX. 


305 


County  supervisors    and   boards    of 

control,  80,  81 

Criticisms  and  suggestions,  251-263 
Cross-section  of  a  road,  231,  232 
Culverts,  18,  19,  128,  192,  193 
Cuttings,  slopes  in,  23 

Defects  and  economics,  general,  244- 

255 
Delaware  Co.,  Penna.,  miles  of  road 

in,  223 

road  tax  in,  222 
Depots  for  stone,  42 
Dimensions,  general,  287,  288 
Ditches,  113,  187,  188,  229 

and  sidewalks,  width  for,  22 
cleaning  of,  48 
depth  of,  15 

Downing,  S.  R.,  statement  by,  72 
Drainage,  94,  114,  166,   167,  200,  201, 

229,  230 
bastard,  96 

necessity  of  thorough,  221,  222 
of  a  blockstone  roadway,  27 
of  roads,  14-19 

Draining,  iron  pipes  for,  128,  129 
•Drains,  162,  163 

and  water  tables,  cleaning  out 

of,  47,  48 
catch-water,  17 
grades  of,  18 
trees  to  be  kept  from,  24 
uniform  inclination  of,  17,  18 
Divisions,  sectional,  164 

Earth  excavation,  cost  of,  274 

or  gravel,  side  slopes  in  cuttings 

in,  23 

road,  construction  of  a,  over  a 
morass,  224,  225 


Earth  roads,  32 

defects  of,  270 
improvement  of,  264 
injurious  effects  of  water  on, 

278 

Earths,  experiments  on  the  relative 
sensibility  of  various, 
290 

Economic  features,  50-54,  176,  177 
Economics  and  defects,  general,  244- 

255 

Economy  of  good  roads,  244 
Educational    advantages    of    good 

roads,  67,  68 
Eel  grass,  95 

Elasticity  of  roads,  168,  169 
Embankments,  188 

protection  of,  198,  199 
Encyclopaedias,  definition  of  maca- 
damizing by,  119,  120 
Engineer,  county,  duties  of,  56,  57. 
economy  of  the  maintenance  of 

a,  285 

of  county  roads,  duties  of,  209 
of  State  roads  and  assistants,  81 
sketch  of  the  duties  of  the,  217- 

221 

Engineering,  186,  187 
features,  172-174 
influence  of    corrupt  metropoli- 
tan, 119 
profession,  illustration  of  injury 

to  the,  132 

Engineers,  assistant,  duties  of,  57 
England,    abolishment  of   toll-gates 

in,  62 
cost  of  maintenance  of  roads  in? 

179 

highway  act  of,  161 
southern,  roads  in,  118 


506 


INDEX. 


English  roads,  impetus  to  the  im- 
provement of,  161 

Excavation,  price  per  cubic  yard  of, 
48 

Farmer,  benefit  to  the,   from  good 

roads,  67 

Fiber,  vegetable,  95 
First  prize    paper  on  road  making 
and  maintenance,  9-58 
Flag-stones  as  substitutes  for  tiles,  16 

for  sidewalks,  171 

Fleece,  George  B.,  honorable  men- 
tion, paper  No.  19, 
by,  183-210 

Footways,  control  of,  236 
Foreign  roads,  275 
Foundation,  91,  92,  233,  234 
clay  as  a,  113 
for  city  pavements,  25,  26 
for  Telford-macadam  road,  35,  36 
of  concrete,  26 

of  Telford  system,  how  made,  68 
preparation  of  the,  206,  207 
sand  for  the,  no,  in 
superiority  of  sand  or  gravel  for 

a,  87 

Foundations,  errors  as  to  the  force 
and  weight  upon,  203 
204 
for  pavements,  prevailing  theory 

in  regard  to,  202 
open-work,  of  stone  and  clay,  119 
suitability  of  sand  for,  291 
unsuitable  character  of  clay  for, 

291,  292 

France,  management  of  roads  in,  145 
Franklin   County,   N.  J.,   macadam 
road  to  be  made  in, 
34,35 


French  drains,  15 

drains  in  villages,  41 

drains,  price  per  lineal  yard  of,  48 

roads,  division  of,  275 

roads,  maximum  grade  allowed 

on,  275 
Frost,   provision  against  disruption 

by,  200 
wrong  idea  in  regard  to  injuries 

caused  by,  14 

Funds    for    improving    the    roads, 
methods    for    provid 
ing,  284 
Furnace  slag,  154 

Gas  pipes,  location  of,  230 
sewers,  etc.,  242 
General  dimensions,  287,  288 
Geological  formation,  163,  164 
Georgia,  maintenance  of  roads  in,  74 
Gillmore,  Q.  A.,  rules  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  road,  by 
221 

tests  made  by,  62,  63 
Grade,  limit  of,  228,  271 

maximum,  189 
Grades,  12-14,  189,  190 

advantages  of  easy,  10-12 

limitations  of,  287,  288 

long,  avoidance  of,  189 

of  drains,  18 

steepest  allowable,  13,  65 

variations  in  the  resistance  due 

to,  51,  52 
Grading,  157 

of  public  roads,  65,  66 
Granite,  153,  154 

block,  prices  per  square  yard  of, 

49 
pavement,  241 


INDEX. 


307 


Granites,  232 

Grass,  sowing  of,  on  slopes,  24 
strips,  229,  230 
usefulness  of,  90 
Grasses,  best,  for  roads,  131 
Gravel  and  stone,  washing  of,  121 
for  covering  tiles,  15 
for  metal,  265 
or  earth,  side  slopes  in  cuttings 

in,  23 
red,  135 
road,  superiority  of  a,  over  the 

Telford  road,  195 
roads,  32,  33,  269 

cheap,  obstacles  to  the  con- 
struction of,  191, 192 
superiority  of,  for  foundation,  87 
use  of,  147 

for  a  roadbed,  193,  194 
Graveling  craze,  135 
Gravely  earth  and    loam,  effect  of 
frost  and  heat  on,  289 
Gravity,  variation  in  the  effect  of,  12 
Great  Britain,  width  of  roads  in,  275 
Ground,  sloping,  necessity  of  step- 
ping, 23 

Gutters,  162,  163 

Gwynedd    township,     Montgomery 
Co.,Penna.,roadsin,78 

Haupt,  Prof.  Lewis  M.,  co-operation 

of,  iii 

digest  of  the  contents  of  the  re- 
maining contributions  to  the  road 
prizes,  by,  243,  277 
notes  by,  282-293 

Health,  danger  to,  96 

Heat,  effect  of,  on  soils,  291 

Hedges  and  trees,  240 

Helderburgh  limestone,  155 


Hering,  Mr.  Rudolph,  results  of  in- 
vestigations by,  49,  50 
Herschell,   Mr.   Clemens,   statement 

by,  122 

Highway  act,  English,  161 
bureaus,  formation  of,  179 
engineer,  appointment  of ,  179, 1 80 
engineering,  scientific  and  prac- 
tical, 173,  174 

legislation,  attention  to,  177 
Highways,  application  of   economy 

to,  176,  177 
classes  of,  167 
control  of,  251 

engineering  features  in  the  con- 
struction, etc.,  of,  172- 

i74 

necessity  of  the  improvement  of ,2 
Hills,  soft  stone  on,  42 

steep,  macadam  on,  41,  42 
Honorable  mention,  paper  No.  13,  by 
Edwin  Satterthwait,  143,  159 
paper  No.   16,  by  Charles  Pun- 
chard,  160-182 
paper    No.    19,    by    George  B. 

Fleece,  183-210 
paper  No.  42,  by  Frank  Cawley, 

211-225 
paper  No.  44,  by  F.  F.  McKen- 

'zie,  226-242 

Horse,  cost  of  keeping  one,  282 
Hulme  and  Fisher,  experiments  by, 
290 

Illinois,  maintenance  of  roads  in,  74 
Introduction,  by  Wm.    H.    Rhawn, 
chairman  of  commit- 
tee, iii,  iv 

Ireland,  abolishment  of  toll-gates  in, 
62 


308 


INDEX. 


Irwin,  H.,  first  prize  paper,  No.  37, 
by,  9-58 

Japanese  government,  recommenda- 
tion of  good  roads  by 
the,  277 

Jefferies,  Richard,  extract  from  the 
last  book  by,  140,  141 

Jenks,  Prof.  J.  W.,  statement  by, 
53.  54 

« 
Kentucky,  maintenance  of  roads  in, 

74 
Kratz,  H.  W.,  statement  by,  83 

Labor  system  for  the  maintenance  of 

roads,  73-75 

Land,  power  to  enter  on,  57,  58 
Laying  out  roads,  84,  85 
Legislation,  263 

applicable  to  county  roads,  209, 
210 

road,  88 

Legislative  features,  54-57,  177-181 
Lehigh  Co.,  views  of,  280 
Level,  disadvantages  of  a  dead,  14 
Lifting,  method  of,  174" 
Limestone,  154,  155 

and  asphalt  for  roads,  28 

as  the  standard  for  macadam, 

193 

Limestones,  232 
List  of  contributors,  299 
Loam  and  gravely    earth,   effect  of 

frost  and  heat  on,  289 
Loams  and  marls,  163,  164 
Location  of  roads,  168 
Loosening,  method  of,  175 
Louisiana,  maintenance  of  roads  in, 

74 


LycomingCo.,  recommendations  by, 
279 

Macadam,   John    Loudon,   and    his 
system,  148-150 
idea  of  an  elastic  road  of, 

233 
introduction  of  his  system 

by,  69 

on  the  size  of  stone,  121 
statement  on  the  surface  of 

a  road  by,  231 
work  of  and  statements  by 

97-100 

and     Telford    roads,     rela- 
tive cost  of,  71,  72 
relative  merits  of,  288 
superiority  of,  63,  65 
systems,  255,  267,  268 
cost  of,  197 

cost  of  movement  on,  245 
limestone  as  the  standard  for, 

193 

minimum  thickness  of,  268 
places  for  storing,  23 
price  of  repairs  to  and  cleaning, 
per  annum,  per  square  yard,  49 
road,  causes  of  resistance  on  a 

38,39 

cost  of  building  a,  274 
maintaining  one  mile  of,  68 
maintenance  of  a,  152,  198- 

200 

restoration  of,  197 
top  dressing  for  the,  271 

roads,  33-43 

rolling  of,  40 

spreading  the,  39,  40 

stone  for,  36-38 

system,  69-71 


INDEX. 


309 


Macadam  system,  bed  for  the,  65 

best  mode  of  construction  of 

the,  6,  7 

importance  of  the  depth  of 
the  structure  in  the,  70 
objections  to  the,  70,  71 
preferableness  of  the,  85 
recommendation  of  the,  6 
reconstruction  in  the,  73 
varieties  and  sizes  of  stone  for,  37 
vs.  Telford,  relative  cost  of,  271, 

272 

with    Telford  foundation,   price 

per  square  yard  of,  48 

Macadamized    roads,    cleaning    of, 

45 

repairing  the  surface  of,  45-47 
thickness  of  new  coating  for,  46 
system,  superiority  of,   for  gen- 
eral road  construction, 

?i 

Macadamizing,  definition  of  by  ency- 
clopaedias, 119,  120 

MacClanahan,  T.,  statement  on  haul- 
ing by,  63 

McKenzie,  T.  T.,  honorable  mention, 
paper  No.  44,  by,  226- 
242 

Machinery  adapted  to  road  construc- 
tion, 176 

Maintenance,  198-200,  221-225,  23^- 

239 

and  cost  of  a  good  road,  169-171 
direct  methods  of,  170,  171 
of  English  roads,  cost  of,  179 
of  public  roads,  73-86 
of  roads,  44-48 
of  roads,  important  points  in  the, 

263 
present  system  of,  169,  170 


Maintenance,  the  most  important  rule 

of,  170 

Maps,  topographic,  need  of,  88 
Marls  and  loams,  163,  164 
Marsh  hay,  95 
Marshes,  roads  on,  124 
Material,  232 

for  surface  of  roadway,  25 

size  of,  234,  235 
Materials,  164-166 

and  work,  prices  for  various,  48, 

49 

best,  for  roads,  270 
cost  of,  155 

testing  the  resisting  power  of,  156 
Measurement,     cubic,     for    broken 

stone,  120 

Metal,  varieties  of,  265 
Metaling,  width  of,  268 
Mississippi,  maintenance  of  roads  in, 

74 

Morasses  and  swamps,  164 
Mortar,  chimney  top,  97 
Move  for  better  roads,  1-3 

difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  the, 

283 
Mud,  provision  against,  199 

National  committee  of  better  roads, 
necessity  of  a,  123 

Neighborhood  or  residence  roads,  201 

New  Jersey,  country  road  law  of,  262 
law  in,  145 
trap  rock,  153 

New  Mexico,  maintenance  of  roads 
in,  74 

New  York  Central  Park,  roads  in,  15 1 

North  Carolina, maintenance  of  roads 
in,  74 

Notes  by  the  Secretary,  282-293 


INDEX. 


Ohio,  increase  in  value  resulting 
from  road  improve- 
ments, 275,276 

Olcott,  James  Bradford,  third  prize  pa- 
per, No.  25,  by,  87-142 

Paths,  171 
Pauper  labor,  108 
Pavement,  asphalt,  241 

defects  in,  to  be  provided  for,  202 
granite,  241 

or  road  construction,  main  de- 
siderata in,  201,  202 
wood,  241 
Pavements,  brick,  30,  31 

prevailing    theory  in  regard  to 

foundations  for,  202 
wood  blocks  for,  28,  30 
wood,  repairs  of,  30 
Peasantry  of  the  future,  destiny  of 

the,  141 
Pennsylvania,     amount    of     money 

spent  in,  on  roads,  68 
collection  of  road  tax  in,  212 
condition  of  roads  in,  under  the 

present  system,  59 
conditions  operating  in  retaining 
the  present  system,  60, 
61 

farm  products  of,  244 
maintenance  of  roads  in,  75,76 
money  spent  on  the  roads  of,  249 
objections  to  the  present  system 

in,  60 
Railroad,    plan    of     instruction 

adopted  by  the,  i 
road  tax  in,  282 
supervisor  of  roads  in,  212 
unsatisfactory  condition  of  roads 
in,  226 


Pennsylvania,  waste  in,  due  to  poor 

roads,  282 
Peeper,    Dr.   William,    co-operation 

of,  iii 

Philadelphia,  cost  of  the  ordinary 
stone  road  in  the  vicin- 
ity of,  273 

'  dirt  roads  in,  146,  147 
Philadelphia   Co.,  specifications  for 

resurfacing  in,  294 
Pierce,  B.  D.,  tests  made  by,  83 
Pipe,  cement  and  vitrified,  for  drain- 
ing, 129 

terra  cotta,  laying  of,  192,  193 
Pipes,  gas,  242 

iron,  for  surface  draining,  128, 129 
sewer,  gas  and  water,  location  of, 

232 

terra  cotta,  167 
Plank  road,  192 
cost  of  a,  272 
roads,  32,  269,  270 
Planks  on  clay  roads,  23,  24 
Pleasure  roads,  201 
Pope,  J.  F.,  statement  by,  72 
Power  to  enter  on  land,  57,  58 
Prices  for  various  works    and  ma- 
terials, 48,  49 
Prize    paper,   first,    No.   37,   by    H. 

Irwin,  9-58 

second,  by  D.  H.  Bergey,  59-86 
third, by  James  Bradford  Olcott, 

87-142 
Prizes,  manner  of  awarding,  iv 

reasons  for  offering,  for  the  best 
papers  on  the  construc- 
tion of  roads,  iii 

Punchard,  Charles,  honorable  men- 
tion, paper  No.  16,  by, 
160-182 


INDEX. 


Quicksand,    straw  for    making    the 
roadbed  in,  265 

Railroad  officials,  shortsighted  policy 

of,  156 
Railroads  and  road  making,  relations 

between,  156 
growth  of,  iii 

roads  preparatory  to,  226,  227 
Railway    education     and    common 

roads,  88,  89 
Reconstruction  from  an  engineering 

point  of  view,  43-48 
of  roads,  72,  73,  174-176 
Repairing  gravel  roads,  33 
roads,  85 

the  surface  of  roads,  45-47 
Report  of  the  board  of  adjudicators, 

6,7 

Residence  or  neighborhood  roads, 201 
Resistance,  causes  of,  38,  39 
Resurfacing,  293-297 
Rhawn,  William  H.,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee,  introduc- 
tion by,  iii,  iv 

Road,  a  perfect,  on  clay,  124 
advantages  of  a  wide,  230 
allowance,  definition  of,  20 
bed  and   road   surface,  tractive 
force  due  to  the,  13,  14 

definition  of,  20 
elastic,       Macadam's 

idea  of  an,  233 
excavation  of  the,  232 
formation  and  drain- 
age of  the,  229 
of  the  macadam  sys- 
tem, 70 

rolling  of  the,  24,  25, 
232 


Roadbed    surface    of    a  graded, 

189 
use  of   gravel  for  a, 

193.  194 

use  of  straw  for  the, 265 

width  of  a  graded,  187 

broken  stone,  requisites  for  the 

proper  maintenance  of 

a,  221 

business,  principles  of,  127 
causes  of  resistance  on  a,  39 
cheap,  for  heavy  traffic,  264 
cheapest  and  best  way  of  making 

a  good,  264 

clay,  planks  on  a,  23,  24 
commissioner,  appointment  of  a, 

252 

common,  problem  of  the,  87 
construction  from  an  engineering 

point  of  view,  10-43 

machinery  adapted  to, 
176 

practical  work  of,  186, 

187 
cost  and  maintenance  of  a  good, 

169-171 
of  a  good,  272 
cross  section  of  a,  19 
cure,  favorite  recipe  for  a,  213 
disadvantages    of      a     straight 

and  level,  228 
earth,  construction  of  a,  over  a 

morass,  224,  225 
economic  benefit  of  a  good,  176, 

177 

final  dressing  of  a,  234 
for  heavy  traffic,  201 
for  light  traffic,  201 
foundation  of  a,  91,  92 
how  to  make  a  good,  267 


312 


INDEX. 


Road   Improvement    Association  of 

London,  E.   C.,  rules 

published  by,  295,  297 

law   changes   proposed    in  the, 

259 

ruling  requirements  of 
a,  185,  186 

laws,  difference  in,  144 

radical  change  in,  256 
reasons  for  a  change 
in  the,  278,  279 
repeal  of  old,  253,  254 

legislation,  88 

machinery,  83,  84 

maintenance,  scientific  treatment 
of,  175,  176 

making  and  maintenance,   first 

prize  paper  on,  9-58 

honorable  mention, 

paper  No.  13,  on,  143- 

159 

paper  No.  16,  on,  160-182 
paper  No.  19,  on,  183-210 
paper  No.  42,  on,  211-225 
paper  No.  44,  on,  226-242 
second  prize  paper  on,  59-86 
third  prize  paper,  on,  87-142 
and  railroads,  relations  be- 
tween, 156 
best  material  for,  151 
by  ploughing  up  the  ground, 

59 

complications  in  the  best,  1 10 
compromises  in,  90 
general  ignorance  of,  88 
injury  to,  89 

private,  criticism  of,  127,  128 
ruin  of,  89 
secret  of,  149 
the  true  principle  of,  122 


Road  making,  titles  of  various  papers 
recently  published  on,  12 
value  of  showers  in,  106,  107 
methods  of  draining  a,  166, 

167 

metal,  consolidation  of,  97 
handling  and  laying  of,  89 
shape  of,  133 
mileage,  division  of,  217 
military,   through    the    Scottish 

highlands,  276  277 
officers,  79 

election  of,  249 

or  pavement  construction,  main 

desiderata  in,  201 ,  202 

permanent,    immediate     benefit 

from  a,  250 
plank,  192 
prizes,     announcement    of    the 

award  of,  8 
conditions    of    competition 

for,  4,  5 

digest  of  the  contents  of  the 
remaining      contribu- 
tions to  the,  243-277 
purposes,  taxation  for,  73-77 
redressing  of  a,  239 
repairs,  methods    in    vogue    of 

making,  213,  214 
scientific  construction  of  a,  172 
scrapers,  89 
stone,  difference  in,  107 
stones,  assorting  of,  132,  133 
substances  on  top  of  the  best  fin- 
ished, 115 
surfaces,     sweeping    dust    from 

the,  221 

system,  reasons  for  a  new, 278, 2  79 
the  trouble  with  the  present, 
260,  261 


INDEX. 


313 


Road  systems,  comparative  examples 
of  the  old  and  new, 
180,  181 

tax,  abolishment  of  the  system 
of  working  out  the, 
258 

fixing  of,  217 

injustice  of  an  unequal  distri- 
bution of  the,  283,  284 
in  Pennsylvania,  282 
working  out  of  the,  219,  220 
Telford-macadam,  35-43 
the  most  durable,  289 
top-dressing  of  a,  107,  108 
water-proof,  93 
way,     block    stone,    transverse 

slope  of,  27 
definition  of  a,  20 
stone  on  the  margins  of  the, 

4i 

table  of  comparison  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  of,  64 

value  of  different  kinds,  62, 

63 

widths  of,  21,  22 
ways,  asphalt,  27,  28 
in  cities,  25 

surface  material  for,  25 
what  constitutes  a  good,  162-166 
width  and  cross  section  of  a,  230- 

232 
work,  packing  for,  136 

porous,  125,  126 
Roads,  administration  of,  81-85 

amount  of  money  spent  in  Penn- 
sylvania on,  68 
and  the  adaptation  of  soils  to, 

288-292 

and  the  nation,  87 
and  the  State,  91 


Road  approximate  percentages  which 
can  be  drawn  on  the 
level  of,  5 1 
bad,  losses  caused  by,  52,  53,  66, 

67 
beneficial  results  of   improved, 

275-277 

benefit  of  trees  on,  129-131 
best,  what  is  meant  by,  88 
borrowing  money  for,  248 
causes   of  inferiority  of,  in  this 

country,  157-159 
charcoal,  269 
classification  of,  81,  82 
cleaning  of,  44,  45 
coal  ash,  109 
common,  and  railroad  education, 

88,89 

common  dirt,  143,  144 
condition     of    in    Pennsylvania 

under  the  present  sys- 
tem, 59 
construction  of ,  227-236,  263-271 

by  the  Romans,  160,  161 
control  of,  285 
convicts  on,  58 
cost  of,  49,  50,  247,  272-275 
county,  legislation  applicable  to, 

209,  210 
destruction  of   by  narrow  ties, 

105 
difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  the 

move  for  better,  283 
dirt,    cost   of    maintaining    one 

mile  of,  68 
division  of,  262 

for  better  maintenance,  238 
drainage  of,  14-19,  94 
earth,  32 

improvement  of,  264 


314 


INDEX. 


Roads,  earthen,  luxuries  of,  90 

economy  of  good,  244 

educational  advantages  of  good, 
67,  68 

elasticity  of,  168,  169 

enemies  of,  246 

for  pleasure,  201 

foreign,  275 

foundation  for,  233,  234 

generous  rivalry  for,  139,  140 

good,  advantages  of,  66-68 

good,  and  equitable  taxation,  178 
economy  of,  236 

grade,  shape,  slope,  width,  depth 
and  length  of,  138 

gravel,  32,  33,  269 

hastily  built,  117 

important  points  in  the  mainte- 
nance of,  263 

in  North  America,  inferiority  of, 

50 
lack    of  appreciation    of  good, 

common,  i 
laying  out  of,  84,  85 
legislation  on,  263 
limestone  and  asphalt  for,  28 
location  of,  10-12,  168 
losses  caused  by  poor,  250 
macadam,  33-43 
maintenance    of,    44-48,    73-77, 

221,225,  236-239 
material  for,  232 
methods  for  providing  funds  for 

improving  the,  284 
move  for  better,  1-3 
neighborhood  or  residence,  201 
notes  onthe  construction  of,  286 

287 
general  dimensions  of,  287, 

288 


Roads, objection  to  the  present  system 
in  Pennsylvania,  60 

of  the  State,  division  of,  86 

on  what  depends  the  maintenance 
of,  91 

ownership  of,  184 

patching  of,  220,  221 

plank,  32,  269,  270 

preparatory  to  railways,  226,  227 

prices  for  various  works  and  ma- 
terials in  connection 
with,  48,  49 

public,  construction  of,  68-72 
control  of,  236 
grading  of,  65 ,  66 
maintenance  of,  73-86 
reconstruction  of,  72,  73 

raising  funds  for  improving,  by 
borrowing  capital,  77, 
78 

reasons  for  offering  prizes  for  the 
best  papers  on  the 
construction  of,  iii 

reconstruction  of,  174-176 

from  an  engineering  point  of 
view,  43-48 

remedies  for  placing  them  in 
good  condition,  214- 
217 

repairing  of,  85 

the  surface  of,  45-47 

resurfacing  of,  293-297 

rules  published  by  the  Road  Im- 
provement Associa- 
tion of  London,  E.  C., 
in  regard  to,  295-297 

science  of,  90 

State  appropriation  for,  78,  79, 
259 


INDEX. 


315 


Roads,  steepest  grades  allowable  on, 

13.65 
stone,  270 

steam  traction  on,  89 
-surfaced,  construction  of ,  147 
superstructure  of,  193-198 
surfacing  of,  157 
traffic  on,  167,  168 
trees  on  north  and  east  sides  of, 

24 

water-shedding,  94 
watering  of,  239,  240 
where  the  power  of  improving 

should  rest,  55 
which  should  be  improved  first, 

85 

width  of,  253,  266,  267 
Rock  dust,  application  of,  133 

excavation,  price  per  cubic  yard 
of,  48 

filling,  surplus,  88 

side  slopes  in  cuttings  in,  23 
Roller  for  picking  up  the  surface,  46 

weight  of  a,  25,  208 
Rollers,  forms  of,  208,  209 
Rolling,  235,  236 

gravel  roads,  33 

macadam,  40 
Romans,   construction  of    roads  by 

the,  160,  161 
Ruts,  repairing  of,  239 

St.  Gothard  Pass,  grades  on  the 
road  crossing  the,  275 
Sand,  Cape  Cod,  92 

effect  of  moisture  on,  289 

filling,  115,  116 

for  foundation,  no,  in 

for  metal,  265 


stone  and  clay,  relative  value  of, 

112 

suitability  of,  for  foundation,  291 

superiority  of,  for  foundation,  87 

Satterthwait,       Edwin,      honorable 

mention,   paper    No. 

13,  by,  143-159 

Schiibler,  Mr.,  experiments  on  soils 

by,  290,  291 
Scotland,   abolishment  of  toll-gates 

in,  62 

Scottish    highlands,     military    road 

through  the,  276,  277 

Second  prize  paper  on  road  making 

and  maintenance,  59- 

86 

Secretary,  notes  by  the,  282-293 
Section  bosses,  219 
lower,  164 
middle,  164,  165 
transverse,  20 
upper,  165 

Sewer-pipes,  location  of,  230 
Sewers,  gas  pipes,  etc.,  242 
Shaler,  Prof.,  statement  by,  72 
Sidewalk,  best  side  for,  22,  23 
Sidewalks,  20,  21,  171 

and  ditches,  width  for,  22 
in  cities,  40 

public,  ownership  of,  237 
Siliceous  soils,  163 
Simplon,  grades  on  the  road  cross- 
ing the,  275 
Slope,  transverse,  19 
Slopes  in  cuttings,  23 

sowing  grass  on,  24 
Snyder  Co.,  statement  by  an  experi- 
enced ' '  foreman  "  of, 
280-281 


INDEX. 


Soil,  nature  of  the,  beneath  a  road, 

no 

Soils,  absorption  of  water  by  vari- 
ous, 290 

alluvial,  timber  in,  191 
and  subsoils,  classes  of,  163 
and  their  adaptation  to  roads, 

288-292 

calcareous,  163 
effect  of  heat  on,  291 
experiments  by  Mr.  Schiibler  on, 

290,  291 
siliceous,  163 
South  Carolina,  maintenance  of  roads 

in,  74 

Splugin,  grades  on  the  road  cross- 
ing the,  275 

State  aid,  advisability  of,  285 
desirability  of,  258 
difficulties  in  granting,  254 
objections  to,  215 
to  counties,  86 
appropriation  for  roads,  78,  79, 

"259 

assistance,  181,  182 
convicts,  apportionment  of,  210 
engineer,  appointment  of,  by  the 

governor,  86 
management  of    roads  by  the, 

US 
normal     schools,      engineering 

courses  in,  79 
purchase   of   stone  crushers  by 

the,  280 

road  engineer  and  assistants,  81 
roads,  definition  of,  82 
the,  and  roads,  91 
Statute  law,  proposed  forms  of,  139 

insufficiency  of,  90 
Steam  roller,  84,  102 


Steam  rolling,  advantages  of,  235 
traction  on  common  roads,  89 
Stepping  sloping  ground,   necessity 

of,  23 
Stone  and  brick,  92 

and  gravel,  washing  of,  121 

and  wood,  92 

application  of,  100 

best  variety  of  for  metaling,  293 

blocks,  foundation  for,  26 

broken,  cost  of,  274 

cubic  measurement  for,  120 
office  of,  98 
cost  of  crushing  per  perch   of, 

84 

covering,  15 
crushers,  83 

purchase    of,    by  the 

State,  280 
depots  for,  42 

disposal  of,  on  the  bottom,  133 
difference  in,  107 
for  macadam,  36,  38 
for  road  making,  most  important 

quality  in,  232 

foundation,  uselessness  of,  149 
hand-broken,  superiority  of,  38 
loose,  management  of,  102 
measured,  marking  of,  42,  43 
on  margins  of  the  roadway,  41 
open-work    foundations    of,    on 

clay,  119 
or  tile  drains,  95 
pavements,  26,  27 
proportion  of  coarse  and  fine,  133 
refuse,  112 
road,  best,  142 
cost  of  a,  273 
ideally  perfect  construction 

of  a,  92 


INDEX. 


317 


Stone  road  work,  example    of    the 
greedy    way    of,    116, 

117 

fallacy  of  our  philoso- 
phy of,  126,  127 
roads,  270 

the  fault  in  old  broken,  123, 

124 

the  idea  most  generally  ac- 
cepted about,  142 
sand   and   clay,    relative    value 

of,  112 

selling  of,  by  weight,  120 
size  of,  121 
soft,  101 
soft,  on  hills,  42 
telescoping  of  layers  of,  93 
trackways,  31,  32 
varieties  and  sizes  of,  for  maca- 
dam, 37 

walls,  dry,  economy  of,  24 
workers,  negligence  of,  93 
Stones,  assorting  of ,  132,  133 
bedding  large,  on  clay,  115 
broken,  for  the  Telford  system, 

68,69 
small  depth  of  in   Mac  Adam's 

system,  149,  150 

suitable  and  unsuitable,  152,  153 
suitable  for  Telford  foundation, 

cost  of,  274 
virtue  of,  90 

with  clay,  caution  against,  114 
Storms,  provision  against,  162,  163 
Straw  for  metal,  265 

use  of,  for  the  roadbed,  265 
Street  pavements,  prevailing  theory 
in  regard  to  founda- 
tions for,  202 
Streets,  241 


Streets,  solid  bed  of  concrete  in  the 
construction    of,    172, 

173 

Sub-drains,  15,  16,  17 
Sub-soil,  clayey,  drains  in,  17 
Sub-soils  and  soils,  classes  of,  163 
Suggestions  and  criticisms,  251-263 
Superstructure,  193-198 
Supervisor,  independence  of  the,  259, 

260 

Supervisors,  election  of,  252 
inefficiency  of,  144 
nomination  and  election  of,  262 
Surface  course,  building  of  the,  207, 

208 

dressing,  69,  70 
material,  25 
of  a  road,  object  of  rounding  the, 

231 

water,  drainage  of,  231,  232 
Surveys,  topographic,  need  of,  88 
Swamps  and  morasses,  164 
Sweden,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.,  appro- 
priation  for  crushing 
stone,  by,  116,  117 
Syenite  blocks,  price  per  square  yard 

of,  49 
Systems,  absurdity  of,  101,  102 

of  construction  suitable  for  adop- 
tion, 63-65 

Table    of    comparison    of    different 

kinds  of  roadway,  64 
Tax,  levying  of,  210 

for  the  maintenance  of  roads,  237 
Taxation  by  money,  desirability  of, 
for   the    maintenance 
of  roads,  86 
equalization  of,  258 
equitable  and  good  roads,  178 


INDEX. 


Taxation,  for  road  construction,  limit 
of,  184  for  road  purposes,  73-77 
objections  to  increasing,  215,  216 

Taxes,  abolishment  of  working  out 

144,  H5 

result  of  working  out,  245 
Teams,  utilization  of  the  power  of, 

105,  106 

Telford  and  macadam  roads,  relative 
cost  of,  71,  72 

and  macadam  systems,   63,  65, 
255,  267,  268 
relative  merits  of,  288 

foundation,  cost  of  stones  suita- 
ble for,  274 

macadam  road,  35-43 

pavements,  top  dressing  for,  270 

plan,  objection  to  the,  196,  197 

road,  cost  of  a,  222 

difficulty    in    constructing    t  h 
197,  198 

grading  of  the  base  of  the,  267 

maintenance  of,  152 

superiority  of  a  gravel  road  over 
the,  195 

system,  68,  69,  150 

system,  bed  for,  65 

system,  cost  of  resurfacing  a,  73 

system,  objections  to,  69 

system,  reconstruction  in  the,  72, 

73 
vs.   macadam,  relative  cost  of, 

271,  272 

Terms,  explanation  of,  20 
Terra  cotta  pipe,  laying  of,  192,  193 
Third  prize  paper  on  road  making 

and  maintenance,  87, 

142 

Tile  or  stone  drains,  95 
pipes,  15 


Tiles,  flagstones  instead  of,  16 
Tires,  narrow,  destructiveness  of ,  199 

size  of,  103,  104 
Toll  roads,  145,  146 

objections  to,  61,  62 

reasons  for  the  abolishment  of, 

85 
Toronto,    macadamized    streets    in, 

134,  135 

Torrey,    Captain  D.,   investigations 
of,  50 

Townships,   election  of   supervisors 
by,  86 

Township  organization,  212,  213 
roads,  definition  of,  82 
supervisors  and  boards  of  con- 
trol, 79,  80 

Townships,  loans  to  be  raised  by,  86 
objections  to  bonding 

215 
Town  and  country,  good  roads  an 

advantage  to,  66,  67 
Towns,  maintainance  of  roads  in,  76, 

77 

Tracks,  repairing  of,  239 
Trackways,  stone,  31,  32 
Tractive  force  due  to  the  road  bed 

and  the  road  surface 

Traffic,  167,  168 

heavy,  road  for,  201 
heavy,  stone  for,  90 
light,  road  for,  201 
scientific  treatment  of,  173 

Transportation,  improved  means  of, 
181 

Trap  rock,  147,  153,  232 

Trees  and  hedges,  240 

benefit  of,  on  roads,  129-131 

on  north  and  east  sides  of  roads,24 


INDEX. 


319 


Trees,  to  be  kept  from  drains,  24 

Trenches,  depth  of,  229 

Turf,  definition  of,  by  Mary  Cooper, 

131.  132 
Turnpike,  cost  of  building  a,  273 

roads,  profit  on,  255 

trusts,  origin  of,  178 
Turnpikes,  width  of,  266 

Union  Co.,  N.  J.,  road  making  in,  122, 

123 
township,  taxes  in,  281 

United  States,  abundance  of  material 
in,  159 

University    of     Pennsylvania    road 
prizes,  announcement 
of  the  award  of  the,  8 
road  prizes,  conditions  of  compe- 
tition for  the,  4,  5 

Vienna  paving  bricks,  31 
Villages,  French  drains  in,  41 

Wagon  tire,  regulation  of  the,  210 
Wash-outs,  175 

provision  against,  162,  163 
Water,    absorption   of,    by    various 
soils,  290 

necessity  of  shutting  out,  92 


Water  of  the  earths,  containing  power 

of  the,  291 

pipes,  location  of,  230 
provision  against,  114 
tables  and  drains,  cleaning  out 

of,  47,  48 

Watering,  239,  240 
Ways  and  means,  284-286 
Weight,  transmission  of,  195 
Westmoreland    Co.,    illustration    of 
how  not  to  do  it,  fur- 
nished by,  278,  279 
Wheat,  cost  of  hauling  100  bushels 

of,  66 

Wheel  tracks,  destructiveness  of,  238 
Wheels,  best  width  of  tires  of,  7 

width  of,  240 

Width  and  cross  sections,  230-232 
of  roads,  253 
saving  extra,  24 

Wilson,  Galen,  article  by,  139,  140 
Wood  and  stone,  92 

blocks  for  pavements,  28-30 
for  sidewalks,  171 
kinds  of,  for  paving,  29 
pavement,  241 
Wooden  blocks,  29,  49 
Works    and    materials,     prices    for 
various,  48,  49 


CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  SCIENCE. 


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LEWIS  M.  HAUPT,  C.E., 
Professor  of  Civil  Engineering,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

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With  Discussion  and  Numerous  Illustrations  and  Charts. 

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